Sacrifices
by asdawnbreaks
Summary: Gale, Katniss, and Peeta are thrown another loop with the announcing of the Quarter Quell. Victors will be reaped, and they must choose someone else to go in with them. Katniss and Gale team up, learning what they would sacrifice to bring the other home.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter one.  
Choice.**  
Gale.**

Dawn was breaking. I smiled to myself, Catnip was late. I figured I would play with her head for a little bit, so I set up a less complex snare and waited in a tree, wondering if she would fall for it.

Less than two minutes after I had set in my perch, she arrived. Because she was alone, she was more cautious than normal. She knew I was hiding around here somewhere, looking into trees and bushes. However, I had selected this branch because I knew she couldn't see me. I smiled as I waited for her to fall into my trap.

I had underestimated how sharp her hunter's skills are. She barely picked up on the wire before stepping into it. I swore loudly—too loudly. She smiled darkly, "Nice try, Hawthorne. You ought to know better than to ensnare your hunting partner."

I chuckled before giving away my bird's eye view and climbed down, so blinded by her natural beauty that I almost stepped into my own trap. I righted myself and began to take it down. Game didn't come through here, which made me wonder why she had come here to look for me in the first place. I shot her the quizzical look, knowing she would catch my meaning. We had a habit of being able to almost read each other's minds. The pressure of the woods over years of hunting had done that to us.

"You weren't at the usual spots, so I began to track you. Did a damn good job of it, if I say so myself." She beamed, she rarely cursed, and I knew she was only doing it now to make her point.

"It was a great job, and you almost fell for the snare." We smiled and lingered around, neither of us wanting to move towards the fence to our houses. Since she was a Victor, she had more money than she knew what to do with. Everything we caught that my family didn't need was traded to people who needed it, or simply given away. But today was a special day for us both, and eventually we would have to go back to the lives we wanted most to forget.

Katniss had gone in to the 74th Hunger Games. She and Peeta emerged victorious as she pulled the berries from her pack and wanted to sacrifice themselves—a move that would change us all.

As the embers of the rebellion grew to flames, the Girl on Fire had pissed off a lot of important people, mainly President Snow. Everyone agreed it was safest for her to pretend she had been madly in love with Peeta, but I was the only one jealous enough to hate this solution. Haymitch and I knew better than to think Katniss really loved Peeta and everyone else was stupid enough to believe it.

But today was special. They had made a last-effort attempt to regain control of the rebellion that was sparking up in various districts—they had announced their engagement. I knew it was fake and I guess that was what was most important, but I hated it more than anything. Katniss was only doing it to save her family and possibly me. I was one of the few people Snow could (and would) use against her if need be. Today was the presentation of Katniss's many wedding dresses. Cinna had designed them himself, but the Captiol's citizens were to decide which one she would wear for her wedding in a few months.

Another choice taken from her. Another choice to be made at the wrong time.

Today was also the announcing of the Quarter Quell. Every 25 years, the Capitol came up with something nasty to remind the districts how evil they really were. Year 25, the districts had to choose who to send. Year 50, the year her mentor Haymitch won, they were required to send double the tributes. This was year 75, and I couldn't yet imagine how it could get worse.

How wrong I could be.

We made our way back to Katniss's house. It had been decided that from now on, any chance we had to watch any part of the games would be spent together. Peeta just reminded her of the nightmare murders she'd had to commit. I cured her, for the time being. Capitol lies kept us from being how we should be—'cousin,' I scoffed again. I hated the Capitol for everything they were doing to her, to me, to our families.

I turned my attention back to the television before I broke something valuable of Mrs. Everdeen's on accident.

Caesar Flickerman was there, as always. He was announcing Katniss's wedding pictures and announced the winner: a beautiful white satin ball gown, with various lace patterns. I wanted to applaud Cinna, he was a true genius, she looked absolutely gorgeous in the picture shown.

Then came the announcing of the Quarter Quell. I held her hand, something I often did when we were alone. But this time, it wasn't to show her that I loved her, it was a gesture of comfort, one to show that I was here no matter what. They could do anything they wanted to me: reap me or kill me, mainly; it comforted me that they could no longer hurt her.

As the president opened the envelope, I saw his hard stare crack into a radiating grin, and I knew he was about to make our lives hell once again. He opened the envelope, "On this third Quarter Quell, to remind the districts that the deaths of their friends throughout the rebellion was the direct product of their uprising, the reaping will be done from the pool of existing Victors, and a friend of their choosing."

I just sat there, rooted to the spot. _Existing victors? District twelve only has ONE FEMALE VICTOR._ As I processed these words, I turned my head to Katniss. The color had drained from her face as she let out a blood curdling scream. She knew what I had already figured out; District twelve had only one female victor. And that female victor had only one person she trusted with her life.

Katniss and I were going into the arena.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter two.  
planning.**

As I suspected, Katniss looked into my eyes. She knew she would choose me, she also knew that was exactly what Snow wanted: to strip her of everything she loved. We turned our attention back to the television while head Gamemaker this year, Plutarch Heavensbee, was explaining the new rules that had been decided.

New rules? That was weird. My thought was that this set of games, choosing your best friend and having to kill them wouldn't be very popular with the Capitol.

Heavensbee began to explain the rules: if a victor and their partner were the last two remaining, they would be crowned champions. But the only way two people could win is if it were that person and the partner they had selected. That part didn't surprise me, and from the look on Katniss's face, it didn't surprise her either. This made it easier on us, knowing one of us wouldn't eventually have to sacrifice the other made this easier.

Rule two: the partner was the reaped Victor's choosing. They could be of any age, which also helped us considering I was too old to be reaped, they could also be of either gender. We smiled again; Snow was playing right into our hands.

Rule three: a victor could not choose another victor to enter the arena with them.

The entire house burst into happiness I had never seen before. Although both of us were risking life and death in the arena, we were going in together, and that was all we needed. But I saw sadness in her eyes. Kantiss knew that Peeta would have chosen her if the victor choosing a victor rule had not been there. Guilt crossed her face, and I knew that she thought she should have originally been thinking Peeta.

I looked back at her and spoke with my eyes. _You would have never made it out alive with him. You will with me._ She understood and her features softened, she smiled. We walked the short distance in the Victor's Village to Haymitch's house and began to ask him about the Quell. He was unsurprised we had chosen each other; he had expected it the moment it was announced. But as usual, he was very drunk.

"What am I supposed to do if my name gets called, eh sweetheart?" Katniss scowled, she hated the nickname with a fierce passion.

"You know that will never happen. Peeta will volunteer for you. It's _him_ we need to find a partner for." She replied hastily, and shot me a look that said she was ready to begin right away. I motioned with my fingers, _bring it on._

Haymitch thought about it for a few minutes before dismissing us, saying he needed to talk to Peeta. I knew what he would want to speak to him about, and I just hoped that Haymitch wouldn't try some stupid plan to prevent Katniss and I from going into the arena together.

We were best friends. Either I was coming home with her, or I would die to make sure she would get home. There was no other option. Peeta could say what he wanted, but we both knew that he was sending him and his district friend straight to death. Katniss would be the only one who had a sure shot out of the arena. This time, for good.

**Katniss  
**Leaving Haymitch's house had finally put the edge on the rough night I had been having. I was furious, Victors weren't _ever_ supposed to go back into the arena. But I knew what was going on: the president was unhappy with my decision, he was unhappy with Gale. And this Quell ensured that I would pick him.

I felt terrible about it, I was automatically sending Gale to a chance with death. But I knew it would kill him if he couldn't flank my left side, just as always. And besides that, Gale would probably knife me onstage if I didn't choose him right away.

The whole country knew that my 'cousin' and I would go hand-in-hand into the arena together. Peeta, Haymitch, and our families knew that we would go through hell and back to make sure the other came home.

And so, we trained. Peeta urged that if Careers could do it, so could we. Gale was my second, as a for-sure thing. So he trained with us, not even bothering to go into the mines. We ran miles every day, across town, across the woods, across anywhere that would appear problematic. Much to the happiness of the district, Gale and I doubled our hunting efforts, bringing down bigger and bigger game, getting better and better as we went.

But Peeta wanted us to train with weapons we were unfamiliar with. So Gale taught us both complex snares, I taught Peeta how to shoot a bow (he wasn't terrible, but he could defend himself), Haymitch taught us to throw knives at moving objects, and Gale and I taught Peeta how to be quiet in the woods—something I noticed he lacked in the first arena. We lifted weights, we put on weight, and we began to try selecting a partner for Peeta.

Two months before the reaping, we had nothing. Peeta was very bitter about it, "we might as well have a second reaping for my partner, because I can't think of anyone I would like to send to death."

"Well I don't know who else we could call on. There isn't anyone left from the Seam who can shoot a bow like Gale and I," I replied.

But then, Gale seemed to get an idea. He had the familiar crooked smile that only occupied his face when he had devised a new way to catch an animal. "What if, we call upon someone who nobody in the Capitol would want to see? What if we stuck it so hard to the Gamemakers that they began to regret this Quell? Snow wouldn't give a damn—obviously—but the citizens might, and that's the only thing that will really rain on Snow's parade."

Haymitch began to smile the same smile Gale had on his face. "I like it, boy. It's brilliant. We just need someone to agree to it."

And so those two months went by quickly, the same way that the four before had passed. The day before the reaping, Haymitch had found a candidate who was not only a Capitol favorite, she was loved by everyone. And furthermore, she had agreed—one of Peeta's conditions.

Madge.

**A/N: Okay so i didn't say anything after the first chapter. but the first few chapters seemed to write themselves. This new QQ gives all of our favorite district 12 citizens even more reason to hate the Capitol. Please review and keep reading :)**


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N:**** Hey guys! had alot of reviews on the first few chapters, so i thought i would clear a few things up!  
**Firstly, this is a Galeniss story, as always 3  
Secondly, Gale does love Katniss. He knows she has feelings for them, but she can't admit them because she's trying to protect him. I hope these next few chapters clear up anything else about their relationship :/

And, i've also decided to add a few more chapters today. I've already got about 10 chapters written, i just have to proofread and make sure they make sense!

As always, please review! i love when people let me know good things and bad!

Now, back to the story :)

**Chapter Three.  
Reaping.**

**Peeta.**

The day of the reaping was one of great relief throughout the district. Although it meant that only one of their beloved Victors could return home, all of the parents breathed a sigh of relief—their children had been spared another year. I was nervous. Katniss was perfectly fine selecting Gale as her partner—they had kept each other alive for years, so it only made sense.

But as for Madge…I was practically signing her death certificate.

Of course, Gale's plan made sense: Capitol people would _hate_ to see a mayor's daughter get chosen on a year she was supposed to be safe. It would give the two of us sponsors, and although I knew Gale and Katniss wouldn't let us make it home, I was sure as hell going to try to help them. But Madge didn't care…

_One day after furious training, I was angry at Katniss and Gale. Not only had they found their perfect pairing in each other, I was sick at the way he kept looking at her. For God's sake, she was supposed to be in love with _me_, not him. What was so special about him? Sure he was handsome, but I had been told that before too. I could have given her a life away from the mines and the Seam—something Gale could never do… unless he won the games. _

_I had been swearing a lot, using a punching bag Haymitch had lent me, refocusing all of my anger, trying to learn to control it. I knew that Gale and Katniss would drop the cousins act, and I wasn't sure how angry I was going to be when they did. I also knew I couldn't stop it—Gale loved Katniss, and with Katniss as his best friend, I knew she would fall in love with him too. I kept punching, angrier and angrier until I heard a knock on the door. _

_It was Madge. I knew her well enough, the mayor's daughter. I also knew Katniss had traded with her father, keeping her and Gale's secret hunting safe. She was just standing there, so I invited her in. she had been crying._

_"Peeta, we need to talk about this Quell. I know you haven't found a partner, and I want to offer myself as one. I know Gale and Katniss will be nearly unbeatable…and…" she paused, unsure of her words. "I don't want to stay here while you're gone. I want to go in with you."_

_I was bewildered. "Why, Madge? I'm going to die. I can only hope to give her and Gale the start they need."_

_She smiled, "Peeta, I really like you. I don't want you to go in alone, and I would probably die if you didn't come back."_

I smiled, remembering what she had said to me. I still loved Katniss, I had almost begun the tedious and horrible process of getting over her in a normal way, but it was nice to have someone who generally cared about me that wasn't forced. We started hanging out more even though we had always known each other.

The day of the reaping, I glanced at her, she was beaming. She knew what she was doing was bigger than the games. Even if I hadn't told her, she was smart enough on her own. I looked at the stage, Effie had her bright pink hair again, I guess she thought it was lucky or something. She walked to the bowl with girls' names inside—but it was a joke. Katniss was the only female victor district 12 had, everyone knew she was going to be reaped, but the Capitol had insisted on drawing anyway.

Her name was called, and she strode to the stage. Effie hugged her and asked her to declare her partner. I turned to Gale, he had already taken a step toward the stage when Katniss said his name. Effie looked to be on the verge of tears and asked for applause. Just like last year, no one did.

Gale and Katniss were favorites of the district—everyone knew that. They had brought food to so many hungry families in the year that Katniss had been home. And everyone also knew that _they_ were the ones destined to end up together, she and I never had a chance. But I looked to Madge and smiled. Maybe something drastic could happen one day.

Effie drew from the bowl that contained my name and Haymitch's, she drew mine. I was glad, I didn't want to make a big show of volunteering. Effie was crying very hard as she asked who my partner was. Other than Gale, Katniss, Haymitch, Madge, and I, no one knew who my choice would be. (For some reason, Haymitch had insisted Katniss and Gale not know until the day before.) I called out, "Madge Undersee," and she skipped to the stage.

Effie once again clapped for a round of applause. Nothing.

I looked through the audience. Prim was the first to make a move, she pressed her three middle fingers to her mouth, and held them in the air to the four of us. The rest of the district followed. And for the second year in a row, Katniss was supported by the disapproval of the district, showing themselves in this simple salute.

Showing that once again, a Capitol forced decision had plucked more of our finest and brightest from us. Katniss was loved by the district because of the food she brought, Gale because he was always with her. But Madge was so sweet and innocent that it was hard to conceive the idea of the Capitol turning her in to a piece of their games.

When I looked to Katniss and Madge on stage, surrounded by a district that loved them so, they were both crying.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter four.**  
Madge.**

When I went to enter my own room of the Justice Building, I smiled. Everything had gone exactly as planned.

I had given my parents a little forewarning—after all, it was them that had given me the idea in the first place. My father hated the Capitol with a passion-part of the reason he traded with Gale and Katniss, a little rebellion of his own. I didn't think it was right for them to be blindsided by the cause we loved, so I had told them I was sacrificing myself to the death. But once they got over the shock that I may be dying, they were actually really happy that I was being so 'selfless,' completely giving myself to the rebellion that Gale and Katniss didn't know existed yet.

Oh yes, Gale had wanted to start a rebellion, everyone knew that. But for their own protection—should anything go wrong—it had been decided that Gale, Katniss, and Peeta know nothing. Gale was under the belief that his idea of someone innocent being picked would start the flames that would eventually devour Panem. But as I spoke to others, it was clear that Haymitch had thought of this the moment the Quell had been announced. I was impressed. I liked that everyone was going to such lengths to protect them, it made me feel like I was doing the right thing. And with Katniss being the most valuable of our group right now, we knew Gale could never keep anything from her, so we had left him out of it too. I was sad, because Gale was so intelligent and could have greatly helped us out. But I guess that problem would sort itself out once this whole thing was over.

I said goodbye to my parents, knowing it was the last time I would be able to see them, and waited for the Peacekeepers to take me. I didn't really have any girl friends except Katniss, and we weren't even that close, but there was no need to say goodbye because we would be on the train later. I had a few friends in town, but no one who cared enough to say goodbye. Peeta…he would have came if he weren't going in to this thing by my side. I smiled, I had loved him for a long time and had been waiting for something like this. A declaration of love to defy the Capitol, same as last year.

Everyone thought I was after Gale, but he belonged to Katniss, everyone in our district could tell those two were soulmates… which is why we were all thrown for a loop whenever Peeta convinced the country of his love for her. I always suspected that it was fake on Katniss's part, because Katniss didn't have time for anyone except Gale. When she began kissing him in the arena, I went as far as to seek Gale out to tell him my suspicions.

_I crossed the cafeteria. Gale had training for mining today, so we would have lunch around the same time. I took a deep breath as I approached him and asked if we could speak privately. Gale and I went outside and sat down on a bench. "You know this is all fake, right? Peeta does love her, but she only has eyes for you, Gale."_

_He looked down, and pain shot through his features. I could tell this wasn't something he was comfortable talking about with anyone except her. "I don't know that. She's never let on about me. I have been crazy about her for a long time… I, I just, I waited too long to tell her… now I may never get my chance." And choking on his last word, Gale Hawthorne, easily the toughest and best looking boy in district 12 was _crying._ This girl had truly captured his heart, and it killed him to see her with someone else. I just hugged him in the friendly and comforting way I knew he needed._

_"Gale," he looked into my eyes, "she is coming home to _you._ She is sacrificing her feelings for you so she can come home just as she promised. She is doing all of this for _you_. You should see her the way everyone else does. She will be _yours._"_

From that day till the end, Gale Hawthorne walked a little taller, with a little more pep in his step. He knew I had been right. He knew that she was his, same as he was hers.

I smiled, I actually couldn't wait to go into the arena. I settled for boarding the train, and found I wasn't the only one smiling. Gale and Katniss were radiant, confident; these rules had played right into their hands. I hoped every single one of the other tributes saw that. Not only that they saw them and the confidence they had. I wanted everyone else in that arena to _fear them_.


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: Hey guys! **had a request for more dialogue! so i put some in and i'm hoping i did okay! Keep the reviews coming! :)

**Chapter five.  
Friends.**

**Gale  
**The ride across the country to the Capitol was largely unentertaining. Having two Victors with us, they were just as much help as a seemingly-sober Haymitch, who just grinned at Katniss and Peeta and gave his only advice: stay alive. Madge and I just looked at each other, the joke lost on us. We didn't dwell on it long before Haymitch was down to business turning to Madge and i.

"Now listen, your stylists and prep teams are going to do things that you don't like, things you're going to curse them for._ Do not resist_. Cinna is a genius and wants to help you make an even greater impression than these guys did last year," pointing to Peeta and Katniss. Portia was right beside him and winked at Peeta, another joke I had lost.

I really hoped the rest of the games weren't like this, Victors having inside jokes like this. It aggravated me that everyone was so calm and causal about killing each other. Not that it mattered, it was all for entertainment's sake anyway.

That night, the Capitol aired the reapings, and the eight of us (Madge, Peeta, Katniss, Haymitch, Effie, Cinna, Portia, and I) turned to the television. The Career districts had the most victors and the best pool to choose from. I didn't pay much attention until district four. An elderly woman named Mags was chosen, and had chosen another boy from the audience (just eighteen by the look of it) to join her. Then Finnick Odair's name was called.

I knew who he was—it hadn't been long since he won. I knew there was a reason I didn't like him, but I couldn't put my finger on it. Katniss picked up on my expression, "Gale, he was the one who was just fourteen. They sent him that trident and everyone was dead within a day." She got quiet, "he's also the sex symbol of the Capitol."

Oh, right. He was 24 years old and was _lethal._ And I wanted him on my team, regardless of his morals. He chose a smaller girl who was clearly excited about the games. Damn Careers.

Effie and Haymitch were discussing the others who were reaped and who volunteered. I picked up a few side comments from Effie about the people she knew, Haymitch just offering whether a tribute/victor was 'trouble' or 'weakling.'

I didn't pay much attention until district 7. Johanna Mason had won pretending to be a weakling, and she was in Katniss's shoes—her district didn't have another female victor. She was chosen and chose a sicker boy from her district. He had obviously asked for it, because he and his family were easily the most excited people in that district. My faith in humanity was rising as I saw these people sacrifice themselves. I also wanted Johanna. She was terrifying with a pair of axes.

I zoned out again until 12 was called. The announcers were having a field day with her choosing me. The 'star-crossed lovers' thing was never in Katniss and Peeta's favor. But when Peeta chose Madge, the announcers were astonished, clearly thinking he would choose another male.

One commentator who I didn't know had exclaimed, "Does this mean that Peeta has broken up with Katniss?!"

Everyone in the room turned to the two of us, so I dropped to my knees in front of Katniss's chair, grabbing her hands and pretending to kiss up her arm. She giggled in mock surprise. Peeta played along with us and pretended to grab my collar and deck me. We mock wrestled for a few minutes before a smiling Haymitch calmed us down.

The whole country was in an uproar because one celebrity had the right to choose who she loved. It made me sick.

After the commentators had made their early predictions and sent out the 'tributes to watch' list, Effie said it was time for bed. Her eyes were rimmed red, I felt bad that I hadn't realized she was crying.

We settled into our quarters for sleep and were sent to the prep teams in the morning. Because the teams were with double the tributes, the three Capitol prep people walked Peeta and I in the same room and began working on both of us.

I quickly forgot their names and began to curse them in my head. Why couldn't I keep _every single hair on my body?_ In my opinion, they were there for a reason, they should stay there. Peeta threw me a knowing glance and I realized that he knew my pain. I grimaced back, and he gave me thumbs up. I gave him a real smile, Katniss would want us to play nice.

Before long, Portia had laid out suits for both of us. I saw we were still going with the "on fire" thing that Cinna had proposed last year. But this year's was fantastic, I was in awe. Instead of a pure flame, it looked like an ember, blue and deep red and orange dancing on our bodies. I exhaled. District 12 would once again be the talk of the opening ceremonies.

The carriages they led us to were bigger than last year's, and we were instructed to have a Victor in front, their partner beside them, and the other two behind them. Katniss and I were in front, Portia insisting that everyone see my handsome face. I blushed, Katniss grabbed my hand. Cinna came to the four of us, taking in his work. "You guys look fantastic. I'm glad we stuck with the basic same thing for all of you! Now, focus! I want you all to appear above it all—no waving, no smiling. And I want the partners to hold hands. Just like last year," with a wink at Katniss, Cinna was gone.

I grasped her hand fiercely as the carriages lunged forward.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter six.  
Training.**

**Katniss**

After Snow gave his speech, we were directed back to our rooms on the twelfth floor. Everything had gone great. Gale was as handsome as ever, I couldn't help but sneak glances at him. And the Capitol women couldn't stop either… I had never heard so many whistles and cat-calls in my life. Gale was eating up the attention, trying not to smile. But I caught him, and he caught me. We had smiled at each other just before the chariots stopped, then we shrugged to each other. Gale laughed and held my hand tighter before whispering in my ear, "Oops, guess Cinna will just have to live with it."

I took off the amazing outfit and changed into something simpler. I got dressed and went looking for Gale, who was no doubt coming up with some kind of plan to keep us safe. And by us, I meant me.

We watched the replay of our entrance, all of us with our mouths open. We had definitely made the impression we wanted. We were completely fierce, even Madge. "All the other victors and tributes should be very, very afraid of you four," remarked Effie.

Haymitch had somehow let it 'leak' that I had lost my child, Peeta's child, which was causing the slight rift between us. Someone had also let it slip that Gale wasn't really my cousin, and an investigation was to ensue. I laughed. These Capitol people were hilarious. Didn't they have anything better to do than pry into the lives of others?

I caught myself. Of course they didn't, they had full bellies every night, never suffering for anything. But the announcers were pleased to see the smile break across the lips of Gale and I. Peeta? Not so much. He looked to be infuriated, but then I saw him look at Madge. Great. He had picked someone he would again fall in love with. I didn't know if this would help us or hurt us, but I dismissed the thought. I excused myself to go to sleep, shooting a look to Gale. We were great at communicating without words—he would follow discreetly in a few minutes. I changed and waited on my bed.

Gale entered silently, he crossed the room and wrapped me into his arms. "This will be okay, Catnip. We both know you and I are going home." He smiled, and I smiled in return.

"Okay, we have to decide if we want to train together or separate. I feel like Peeta wants to help us, so I vote together." I knew better than to think Gale wanted to be separate from me, so I didn't even ask.

"Together. We should also look for allies. I like Johanna Mason and Finnick Odair. They are lethal and would be great for our alliance."

I looked at him, glaring, "_our_ alliance? Since when are we Careers?"

"Since we've been training like them for six months, Catnip."

"Okay fine. I also liked a few others. We shall see who we encounter tomorrow."

I said goodnight and Gale left the room. The games had begun.

**Peeta.**

The next morning, we began to go to the training center, all four of us nervous at what we would find when we started our training. Haymitch had advised us all to stay near the edible plants and camouflage, and to learn a skill we didn't know. He said since we had so much training with weapons that they wouldn't be as important.

Gale, Katniss, and I shrug, but since Madge hasn't been training, we take her to the edible plants and begin to teach her what we know. By the end of the first hour, she had passed the test with flying colors—Madge had a good memory and an eye for detail.

At the second hour, we ventured to the knot-tying station. "This station will mean life or death," Gale was explaining. "Food for sure, animals love walking into my snares," Katniss scoffed. She was amused by his overconfidence as much as I was.

"But really," Katniss continued, "it would be easy to trap another competitor and have them hanging by the ankles." She turned to Madge, "just don't let him fool you. He's good and all, but he's not half as good as he think he is." Gale snickered, adding to the fuel. Katniss winked and began teaching Madge the simple snares she had taught me a few months ago in the woods. "It's important we all know these skills so we can survive if we get separated."

At the end of the third hour, we had mastered that so we decided to introduce Madge to some weapons. Everyone in the room knew Katniss could shoot, so it was no problem for her to 'reveal' her skill by teaching Madge. Gale shot a few times, and guessing by the looks he and Katniss exchanged (their own secret language), he had missed on purpose.

Before long, it became a competition of who could miss the worst while still making it look like they were trying. Katniss looked back at Madge and I before shooting at the very edge of the target, a feat that actually took a lot of skill to the four of us, but a passerby would think Katniss was losing her touch.

"Impressive, Catnip. Try this one," Gale ordered, he strung his arrow before sending it into the scenery people were supposed to be painting themselves into at the camouflage station. A few shots later and I had to join in on the fun.

I fired one between Gale's legs, angling it to hit the target. I fired another one through a hoop Katniss had made with her arms above her head, again hitting the target. The three of us were acting so silly, people were joining in with Madge laughing at us. Our "session" was interrupted by Plutarch Heavensbee announcing lunch was ready.

We took lunch with the other tributes, Madge eager to get back in and handle more weapons. I smiled at her, I liked her spunk, and she wasn't going down without a fight.

No sooner had we sat down when a number of people joined us: Johanna, Beetee (district 3) and his volunteer (who was his nephew, I think), the other district three tribute Wiress, Finnick and Mags, and a woman from district 11 with Haymitch's friend Chaff.

Apparently Haymitch had been making us friends. I figured Johanna and Finnick, but the rest surprised me. It was fine with me though, they were all deadly in their own way, and I couldn't wait to come with a plan.

Lunch was fantastic: all the victors and newer tributes were actually having fun. A stick-it to the Capitol: we didn't see each other as enemies. Well, I didn't see anyone as an enemy until Finnick started to stare at Katniss. Gale noticed the same time I did, he was sitting next to her and put his arm around her. I was content just staring daggers into him.

Not that it mattered; she didn't belong to me anymore. Officially, she did, we were engaged. But I knew her heart had changed its allegiances to another, the boy right next to her. And I had also heard tales of their hunting trips: Gale and Katniss in the forest… they were dangerous, possibly the most dangerous of anyone here. If any pairing had a chance, it was these two.

The rest of the day in the training center passed in the same joking manner that lunch had. Everyone was doing their best to mess with the trainers and the Gamemakers.

Gale caught a few of the trainers in traps. Katniss even went so far as to shoot one down from a trap with an arrow, this caused the Gamemakers to pay attention, as well as everyone else. District six's tributes and victors had just started face painting the people they were supposed to be practicing on, silly faces and obscene words. Finnick and Mags had taken to a nap in the pool where we could learn to swim. Beetee was trying to show his tribute how to disable the electricity in the training center, and after a few flickers, the lights went out for a full minute before an angry Peacekeeper fixed it. Johanna was tying knots around her body to replace her clothing she had shed. All while Chaff was having a drink.

I laughed. And the trainers seemed amused too, because they just let the fun keep coming. I looked to the Gamemakers though—Katniss and Gale had started this eventful training session, and I could just feel the heat radiating off the Gamemaker stares. They hated to be upstaged and ridiculed the same way Snow hated it. I didn't know what was going to happen, but I knew it wasn't good for the four of us.


	7. Chapter 7

Okay, so i decided to give everybody a break and post more than i thought i would today! these two chapters were really hard for me to write-i couldn't say what i wanted to without it sounding weird.  
So bear with me if they're awful.

as always, please review! :)

**Chapter 7.  
Unexpected**

**Gale**

Another day of training passed like that first one. The only difference was the Careers (except Finnick and Mags) were the only ones actually trying. A woman who's name I learned as Enobaria from district two had taken the younger district four kids under her wing—and she had them hell bent on killing everyone in the arena from district twelve.

Which was to be expected, considering Katniss and Peeta killed Cato to win the games.

Individual training day was to be held the next morning, Haymitch had told us to go all-out, but I didn't know anything else I could do. I wasn't a painter like Peeta, I couldn't shoot like Katniss, and I couldn't swing an axe or trident. I began searching my mind looking for something to help me make an impression like Cinna wanted.

Nothing was coming to mind. Around midnight, I gave up trying to sleep and began pacing. A few minutes later, I heard screaming. I sprinted from my room, following the sound—Katniss was screaming. I burst through the room as she woke up, tears flowing down her face. I silently walked across the room, slid between the covers, and held her in my arms as she cried. I didn't know who would do this for her after I was gone, but that was okay. Katniss would find someone to be strong for.

We slept peacefully that night, and I slipped out with a kiss good morning before anyone woke to catch us. That was just what we needed, a headline that read, "Incest Victor cheats on fiancée with cousin." I snorted, these Capitol people would believe just about anything.

We scarfed down breakfast and made our way to the training center for the individual meetings. All the districts were called, Peeta and Madge going before Katniss and I. Peeta was gone for at least 45 minutes before Madge went in… weird. I didn't realize he had that much skill. Madge barely took ten minutes, and it was my turn to go in.

As soon as I stepped through the door, I knew what I was going to do. First, I shot straight at Snow's nose in the huge painting of him on the wall; that got their attention. I went to the dummy station and put one in the middle of the floor, using the paints to write Snow on it. I entrapped it into one of the most complex snares I had ever done, and then let it hang by its ankles for a few seconds, appreciating my work. I put firewood all around it before I started a fire with two stones. Hey, at least I was showing a little skill.

I set fire to the dummy, hopefully as a preview of what would happen to Snow since he just kept crossing the wrong people, mainly the Girl on Fire. I left the room chuckling at my pun without being dismissed.

I walked back to our floor and waited for Katniss. Peeta and Madge were sitting at the table grinning. "I think we should all discuss what we did together before we tell Haymitch."

**Peeta**

Gale came back up with a smile on his face—smug bastard. He probably just did something that sentenced us all to die—not that I was any better. I was going to be lucky to get a score that wasn't a zero. Twenty minutes after Gale had come to our floor, Katniss came stomping in. she looked around, unsettled that we had waited for her, when Gale explained we wanted to tell each other at once.

Since I went first, I told them how I had used the paints to draw a picture of Rue surrounded by flowers. Katniss had described it to me many times so I had a clear picture in my head. The Gamemakers should feel responsible for what they did. I turned to Madge and gestured that it was her turn.

"All I did was say, 'I'm a mayor's daughter. I'm not trained for this.' Then I threw one of the axes we had been working with across the room and hit a dummy in the heart with it… not as exciting or rebelling."

Gale weakly smiled, he knew what I did: we were in deep shit. I didn't realize how deep until he explained his trick with burning Snow's body in one of his own snares. I had to chuckle though, it was definitely Gale.

Katniss looked to be on the verge of tears. "I didn't know what you guys had done, so I hung a dummy of Seneca Crane…"

The four of us looked at each other and automatically burst out laughing, tears pouring down our faces. We had all wanted our own act of rebellion to stand out more than anyone else's, so much that we had all outdone each other in our own way.

We ate lunch, passing the time easily until dinner, and then settled in front of the TV to watch the scores. We had filled Haymitch in on what had gone on, he laughed and laughed. He was almost as impressed as he was last year when Katniss shot an apple out of a pig's mouth that the Gamemakers were eating.

We watched. The Careers had all scores ranging from 7-10, as usual. Finnick pulled a 10, no surprise. Nobody else surprised us until Johanna Mason scored a 9. I looked at Haymitch and he spoke my mind, "She probably just swore at them till they told her she could leave."

District 12 quickly came. My score came first. An eight wasn't as bad as I expected, it was what I scored in the first games. Madge had a six, which wasn't Career status but was still impressive.

Katniss and Gale were holding hands for their announcement. Gale's face came up first, a pretty intimidating picture beside a…an _eleven?_ Did I read that right? I must have, because Gale and Katniss were quickly celebrating. Then they showed her picture… a _twelve?_ The commentators were beside themselves. This had never happened in the history of the games. Katniss's eleven last year made history, just as Gale's eleven did a few minutes ago. But a _twelve?_ The Gamemakers had one thing on their minds: singling them out. Gale and Katniss were going to have to have a miracle to come home.


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8.  
Mockingjay**

**Gale.**

Dressing for the interviews wasn't nearly as nerve wracking as it should have been. Portia informed us that we would be interviewing in twos, and we would get six minutes instead of three. This made me happy. Katniss was already a natural with the crowd and Peeta was a great talker. It seemed Madge and I would have the easy jobs. I guessed this was to show our unity, since two people could win.

As Peeta and I (very sharply dressed in suits with Peeta's white tie, mine a soft blue) went to get the girls, we smiled and complimented each other. We assumed we would match the girls.

And we did. Madge came out in a stunning strapless white dress encrusted with jewels in a pattern that looked to be fire. It fit her snugly to her waist, barely billowing out. Cinna had wanted to leave a little to the imagination, while still signifying her innocence, which was okay; Madge had curves that most girls from 12 didn't. She might as well show them off. I also liked her look because she looked so…pure. Surely the Capitol's citizens would know they were sending a complete innocent into this arena. I turned around looking for Katniss.

She took my breath away. Cinna had wanted her to become a more innocent Victor than what most were going with—but she was dressed in the wedding gown the Capitol picked. A beautiful ball gown that made her highlighted features stand out. I was so proud, I also wished I could be the one she would walk down the aisle to in that, but I pushed the thought from my mind.

Then I looked at my own tie…Katniss and I didn't match. Katniss, Peeta, and Madge matched, so I guessed that made me the odd man out. I shot Cinna a look and gestured to it, but he put a finger to his lips asking for my silence, ensuring me it would come out in good time. We walked to the stage as Caesar Flickerman began the introductions and started with district 1. As the interviews came and went, each Victor said the same thing in some form or fashion showing their disapproval for the games.

For Beetee, "This year's games are technically against the rules. Victors are supposed to be un-reapable, no matter what. Obviously that isn't the case and something has been tampered with."

Finnick, "It's a shame that the Capitol that loves us so would make us proceed with this. Don't they love us more than anything?"

Johanna, "I'm sure someone in that control room could change this so Victors don't have to go, but that would ruin all the fun everybody has in watching us die." (Katniss and I had to stifle giggles at that one—Johanna had guts. I liked it)

Chaff, "Well the only thing I'm upset about is that my sponsors won't be able to send me any of this fine wine I've been drinking all week. Then at least I could die happy!" Haymitch had a field day, it was his line of thinking as well.

By the time Peeta and Madge had gone, Caesar had completely given up asking him what he thought of the games, but instead turned the conversation to Katniss. I wondered how they were going to play it off. But Peeta kept his head and won the crowd over—with a touch of rebellion.

"So Peeta, we have another bit of bad luck for you and the Girl on Fire, is this reaping what's put a strain on your relationship?"

Peeta thought for a second and smiled wearily, "Oh no, Caesar. The failed pregnancy was definitely the stake that drove us apart. We just couldn't look at each other without thinking we had failed our unborn child. We knew we could be accepted by the people of the Capitol for being unable to face what had happened. Katniss and I have both moved on now and we have found that it is easier to deal with our unborn child's death as friends, leaving us to deal with our grief with other people. We can finally move out of our depression."

Peeta was cut off by the screams of the Capitol people. I don't know who smiled more, Peeta or Madge, but it didn't really matter because Peeta pulled her in to the most passionate kiss I had ever seen. Katniss and I looked to each other. This was perfect. Peeta had gone against the games, first by pulling an innocent Mayor's daughter into it with him, then by betraying his Capitol-made love of Katniss for someone of his own choosing? How would we top that?

I didn't have much time to think about it, because they were calling our name and we headed to the stage.

**Katniss  
**I was nervous. Not just nervous, but I was sweating through this dress and squeezing the hell out of Gale's hand. This was important, we would have to play it just right for the Capitol to accept us. I strode to the stage in my wedding dress. What a joke. I found Cinna in the audience, just like last year.

After that, Caesar's questions were answered effortlessly. He asked about our relationship, to which Gale and I both blushed and replied we weren't cousins, we never had been. "Everyone in the district just assumed that we were family because we were together constantly and always protecting each other's backs," I looked to Gale, "Peeta and I didn't really know they had gotten it wrong until we returned home, and didn't think anything of correcting them."

Everyone seemed to buy it. Then Caesar questioned Gale, "Why did you make the choice to volunteer for her partnership?"

Gale ran his hands through his dark hair—I heard several Capitol girls sigh. I feel a flash of anger, and Gale smiled. "I volunteered because although Katniss is my best friend, there will always be more. I've always had her back and I couldn't let her go into this without someone she knew she could count on."

Caesar then turned to me, "Was it a struggle to let him come with you?"

"Of course not. As soon as the Quell was announced, Gale and I looked to each other and just knew that there wasn't any way that either of us were going into the arena without the other. We are better as a team, and we can win that way…no matter how unfairly the odds are stacked against us."

"Well, Gale, Katniss, I have one more question before I can let you guys go. This dress is beautiful, Katniss. Are you sad this will be the only time you'll get to wear it?"

I looked to Cinna, he was making a circling motion with his hand, and I knew exactly what to do. "No, Caesar. It just means a time of my life that has passed, something I am willing to move on from because it means better things are to come. But it is _really_ beautiful, isn't it?" I played the crowd for a second then perked up as if I had forgotten something. "But you guys haven't gotten to see the back! Let me show you!" I smiled to Caesar and began to twirl. I felt something hot encircling me, and I heard the screams and gasps of everyone watching. But I didn't stop until I knew I had transformed and I looked down. The dress had transformed to a soft black, contrasting with white. There were sleeves under my arms that were the same blue as Gale's tie. I smiled at Cinna after inspecting myself.

Cinna was beaming, and I was a mockingjay.


	9. Chapter 9

*****Credit for the arena design goes to Pinklove21 :)*****

**Chapter 9  
Together**

**Gale  
**And with that, our buzzer went off and we left to head back to the line of tributes before we were dismissed. As Caesar thanked everyone at home for tuning in, he stopped mid-sentence and turned his gaze to us.

Every single Victor and every tribute between them had joined hands. All 48 of us were just standing, chests out, chins up. We knew this was wrong. Katniss had explained to me that Victors were their own special family—and now I began to believe it. These people genuinely cared about each other. Caesar recovered and signed off leaving the tributes and victors free to go.

Haymitch was so excited he almost spilled his drink, along with everyone else we passed on our way back, we obviously had done exactly what they wanted us to do. Katniss and I really didn't understand, but I knew that I was now free to love the only girl I had ever wanted, thanks only to Peeta.

Peeta, who kept sacrificing himself over and over again to please Katniss. I knew he still loved her, it was so obvious. But he knew that her happiness was all that mattered to either of us. And he gave her that happiness, in letting her make own decision.

That night, I slipped in the covers beside her once again, and I calmed myself for the best night of sleep since before the reaping of Katniss's first Hunger Games.

Katniss was so beautiful in the morning. I could allow myself to think thoughts like this since Peeta and Madge had made their own declaration. I was so happy for them. If anyone deserved it, it was the two people who had made this journey with us.

But today was time to get down to business: this was the day the Hunger Games began.

I knew it was nice for Katniss to not go through the games worried about if I would be feeding her family. It was a silly thing to distract her while she was in the arena—she knew better than to question my love for her family. And now I knew that the debt would be square. I knew Mrs. Everdeen and Prim would give my family all the money they needed to make it through while I was in the arena. And if I died protecting Katniss, they would care for my family as long as they lived.

It was a comforting thought. I kissed Katniss good morning and told her I would see her soon. She called to me before I hit the door. I looked back into a fierce look from Katniss and our mind-reading started to work. I crossed the room in two strides and had her locked fiercely in my arms, kissing her with all the years of passion I had locked up. I kissed her the way she deserved to be kissed, as if she were the last woman on earth. But this was more than that—I needed her to know that this wasn't just because of the games. It wasn't the possibility that we wouldn't see tomorrow.

It was love.

As she pulled apart to catch her breath, she looked into my eyes and said the same things. She had wanted to kiss me like that for a long time, I could tell from her eyes more than her body's reactions.

"I love you, Gale Thomas Hawthorne. I am honored to have you go in by my side today."

I smiled back, she loved me. And not in the way she had claimed in the past year—she really loved _me._ Then I watched her face become serious, her eyebrows raised. "I love you, too. I _will_ find you today. Do not worry."

_How?_

"Katniss, do you remember Rue's whistle you used last year? Signal that to the birds and I will find you." I almost laughed at her expression. The mind-reading thing was weird to her too.

She practiced the whistle for me and me for her, and then I left for the day. The next time I saw her, it would be on a plate with 47 other people, ready to fight to the death.

**Madge**  
I looked across the room at Peeta. He hadn't come last night as I had hoped, but he had shown up before we were to be shown to the hovercraft to take us to the arena. I smiled as we agreed to find Katniss and Gale before we agreed to find each other. Haymitch and the head Gamemaker had the whole thing rigged, not that Peeta knew that. Beetee, Chaff, Wiress, Mags, Johanna, and Finnick were in on it as well. We would be sent a different number of rolls from various districts to let us know when it would take place.

I wasn't sure how it was going to come in either, but Beetee was supposed to be a certified genius, so I figured I'd leave the smart people things to the actual smart people.

Sigh, this plan to break all of these rebels out of the arena was stressful; I didn't know if I was a good enough actress to pull this off. But Haymitch had assured me that I just needed to act nice and innocent until I witnessed my first murder. Then I was to become vicious. The other district 12 tributes didn't know but I had been practicing. My private session with the gamemakers wasn't a stroke of luck, it was just supposed to look that way.

The rest of the morning blurred by until I was in the tube, ready to be put into the arena alongside the other victors and tributes. I knew Haymitch's orders and I planned on following them. He wanted all of the district 12 people and those involved with the rebellion to grab what was close and stay the hell away from the bloodbath. I could handle that, Katniss could handle that. Peeta and Gale? Not so much. That's who we were worried about. We figured they would see a particular type of weapon and insist that we need it. Finnick was in charge of that. Although he hated the Careers, Haymitch had got him in with their pack. And he was to stay that way long enough to get us weapons and to charge back to us. We had enough people in our alliance that we should be okay.

I took in my surroundings. I had to hand it to Haymitch, he never missed a thing. Last night, Haymitch had called a meeting of our alliance in a safe room, minus Gale, Katniss, and Peeta. Haymitch sat us down and called it to order.

_"Alright, I have a friend in high places who gave me a tip on the arena. It's going to be tough, but easy enough to figure out. The guy who designed it was Crane's second in command last year, and it's a miracle he wasn't promoted to head Gamemaker. There will be two cornucopias—shocker, I know. One will be for the victors and another for the regular tributes. Victors will surround one cornucopia, tributes the other." I looked around at each other. I hadn't figured on Gale and I being separated from the other victors. Haymitch caught on, "Don't worry, Madge. These cornucopias are only to confuse you. The rest of the landscape will stay the same," he motioned to the holograph in the center of the table. "The rest of the arena will be divided into rings, these rings surrounding the two cornucopias almost like a figure-eight bulls-eye. The first ring is the clearing surrounded by jungle. The second is pure water, the third is the type of forest Katniss and Gale like, the next ring is a series of mountainous cliffs, in case you go too far."_

_"Apparently, this year they wanted to cater to each individual victor's strengths from home. But I don't want you to worry about anything other than the forest ring," Haymitch smirked. I knew where the plan was to go from here._

_"So you want everyone else to grab Katniss and Peeta, heading for the hills. You want me to convince Gale to go that direction too?"_

_Finnick smiled, "Yes, Madge. It won't be an easy task—Gale will only be worried about finding Katniss from the get-go. But you have to assure him that the rest of the alliance will care for her until we can get together."_

_Haymitch then reminded us all of our roles before releasing us to a good night's sleep. It was going to be a busy next few days in the arena._

I just hoped I was half the actress I thought I was, or I would never be able to pull this off.


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10.  
Survival**

**Peeta  
**I let my eyes adjust to the surroundings. There was the cornucopia, the clearing surrounded by a weird forest. I panicked, there didn't seem to be enough people here. _Where are the other tributes?_ I found Katniss and looked for the other members of our alliance. All the victors were there… but…_where is Madge?!_ I started to panic, I caught Johanna looking at Katniss motioning for her to calm down. Apparently she had missed Gale and began the panic that I was.

The countdown began for the 60 seconds tributes had to stay on their plates. Johanna had taken in her surroundings, motioning for us to go into the woods straight behind us on the edge of the clearing. I focused, I didn't know these woods. I had only seen them in books and pictures, a strange and faraway word coming to mind... _A jungle._ I didn't know what lurked, and didn't have much time to think about it.

5

4

3

2

1

….

I saw Katniss grab the nearest bag and head for the jungle beyond the clearing. Enobaria had found a knife and threw it at Katniss, I sighed relief when it hit her backpack. That meant we had a weapon. I ran following her, and the fight was on.

**Gale  
**This was weird. I saw the cornucopia, same as every year. I saw the tributes around me. I counted quickly, only 24. Weird again. I found Madge, she looked panicked too, probably looking for Peeta. That was one thing she had to worry about that I didn't: I knew Katniss could survive until I found her. Every second Madge wasn't next to Peeta could easily be his or her last.

The countdown seemed to go slower the closer it got to one. Madge caught my eye again, gesturing to the jungle behind us. I nodded. Finding our alliance was the main thing. I didn't know if the victors were lurking there or not, but luckily a backpack was less than 20 feet to my right. I could grab it, join Madge and begin to hunt for Katniss. Joining and protecting Madge was the very least I could do for Peeta considering how he kept Katniss alive last year with his "star-crossed lovers" thing.

When the gong sounded, I took off. The Hunger Games had begun.

By the time Madge and I had fled to the jungle, I had counted 19 cannons. Usually that would seem like a lot considering a normal games only has 24. But with double the tributes, this wasn't unusual. Madge and I found a decently concealed spot before looking over the backpacks she and I had grabbed. Madge had three weapons—all knives—a sleeping bag, a canteen of water, and a small dropper full of iodine. I was thankful for Katniss for mentioning iodine was to purify water. I told Madge to start purifying the canteen—you could never be too careful in the arena.

My backpack was more helpful in some ways and less in others: dried fruit, dried meat, rope, wire, and an empty canteen. _Wire._ I smiled to Madge, "So we didn't get very lucky with weapons, but this should keep us alive until we find the others," I motioned to the wire.

She nudged my shoulder, "Don't worry, Gale. _My_ snares will catch the animals and your cooking can feed us." I snorted, glad the playful banter was still present and nobody was really concerned with killing each other yet.

"Hah, hah. Very funny Madge. Before we set up camp or any snares, we should find the others. The Careers will start hunting everyone not in an alliance tonight. And if they came across us..."

"We would have zero chance of defending ourselves."

"Exactly. If night falls and we can't see or hear them, we'll find a nice tree and tie ourselves in."

I grimaced at the thought of sharing a sleeping bag with her, it would just be my luck if the audience got the wrong idea. We packed up the few things we had, drank a little of the water, and set out.

A few hours later, I felt as if all we had done was walk in circles. It was so infuriating that I wasn't at home listening to the commentators and figuring out what was going on. I also didn't know this type of woods. Madge said it was a jungle, that she had seen it in some of her father's books. That made sense, it also explained why you couldn't climb the trees.

Madge wanted to keep going. She said she wasn't comfortable here and wanted to keep pressing. I figured it was a good idea to cover as much ground as we could.

Madge smiled when she saw a mockingjay, pointing to it so she didn't scare it away; luck was finally starting to turn my way. I called out Rue's whistle that Katniss and I had agreed on. Maybe she was waiting for me close by. I crossed my fingers, repeated the whistle, and began another trek.

**Katniss  
**I stopped dead in my tracks when I heard it. Rue's whistle? Was this a gamemaker trick? Surely not. Surely the birds wouldn't remember it from last year. Do they even use the same animals for different arenas? It didn't matter; that was the signal we agreed on, so I waited for the birds to stop before I repeated it, adding another note. Johanna, Beetee, Peeta and Wiress just stared at me.

"What? Gale and I agreed on that signal last night so we could find each other."

Johanna smirked, "Good. We need to find your boyfriend and make camp before the sun goes down."

I blushed, "he isn't my boyfriend, Johanna."

The stare she gave me reminded me of the cameras close, I needed to play them. "Sure fooled me, brainless."

I let myself blush even deeper, letting out a giggle. I wondered where Gale was, if he was thinking of me, I hoped he wasn't dead. I didn't know what I would do with myself if Gale ceased to exist. I stopped myself, pulling on a mask of emotionlessness. I looked to Peeta and realized he had done the same. I grabbed his shoulder in reassurance, "Gale wouldn't have left her. They're together and he just sent me the signal to show that they're okay." He smiled.

Johanna, being the meanest and deadliest, took the lead. She handed her knife to Peeta and he took the back for protection. She didn't want to stop to look at our packs until we got out of what she called a jungle. She had managed to grab two axes and a knife before running with Peeta and me to the edge of the trees where we silently waited for Beetee and Wiress.

We had heard pursuit, Peeta flexing up protectively—not soon enough. Johanna had already buried an axe into the neck of whoever this unlucky guy was (I didn't even know his name). I laughed and caught her eye, she chuckled. "If I gotta kill somebody because of the Capitol, I'm doing it on _my_ terms." She cleaned her axes, collected the guy's spear, and we began to search for Gale and Madge.

An hour before dusk, we stopped our search and realized it would just have to wait till morning. My face fell, and i felt as if Peeta's had done the same. Johanna had somehow killed two squirrels with her axes...I had seen it with my own eyes and still didn't believe it. So i made a quick fire and gutted, skinned, and cooked them. The group split the meager meal and started talking.

"I wonder where they are, I just really hope they're together. Gale can survive on his own... Madge has never been in the wild," Peeta remarked.

"You survived for days without Katniss, brainless. She'll be fine," replied Johanna. At her comment, Peeta smiled. He didn't need to be comforted, neither did I.

We divided up watches, switching axes and knives. Peeta, Johanna, and I were the only three that took shifts. Not only because two of the three wouldn't be able to sleep, but because three of the three wouldn't rest easy with Mags, Beetee, or Wiress guarding us.

At dawn, Johanna, who had taken the last watch, woke us and we packed up. Not that there was alot to pack up, we hadn't gotten many supplies.

We walked for a few hours, finding a stream and purifying the water. "Johanna, we should stay along this stream. Once Gale realizes finding us won't be easy, the first thing he's going to look for is water."

"Okay, brainless. Maybe you should try your bird call every so often."

I nodded and whistled the four notes on and off again for a few hours, heart sinking each time it wasn't sung back.

We kept walking, Peeta becoming more anxious with every step, it irritated me. I could barely hear the sounds of the woods as it was, his loud ass footfalls were making it impossible. Johanna followed my thoughts, and we yelled at Peeta to quiet down at the same time before smiling at each other.

As it got quieter from our group, I began to hear even more than i thought possible. Distant birds calling to one another, multiple streams lazily flowing, and humans. One pair of distinctly obvious footfalls, and another's steps…a hunter's steps. _Gale._ I decided to use the bird call again, the mockingjays reflecting and relaying it. I waited and heard his voice in a teething whisper, "she's close, the calls are closer together," he waited a minute before whistling the song back.

Hm, odd again. Gale must think I'm farther than I am, and he's trying to avoid someone following him. I pulled back the branches and the words had barely left my mouth when Johanna let another axe fly, straight into the heart of a district two tribute. Madge screamed bloody murder at the horrors of witnessing her first murder until Gale covered her mouth. I wondered why Johanna didn't insult her, but dismissed the thought. She was probably in shock from killing again. Gale quickly turned around and swore very loudly. Exclaiming, "I didn't even know he was on our tails!" before he saw me. But when he did, the world stopped. He was at my side in four long strides and had me in his arms another spilt second later. "I missed you," he breathed into my ear, "I was so worried about you."

We stayed that way until Johanna coughed loudly. We caught up with Peeta and Madge, distributed weapons (Beetee's eyes going wide when he saw Gale's wire), and began to find a place where we could set up for the night.


	11. Chapter 11

A/N: The chapters start to get a little longer here. I hope i'm clearing up some questions you guys may have about what's really going on the arena!

As always, Please review! I love knowing what you guys think of whatever's going on and whatever you would like to see more of!

**Chapter 11  
Supplies**

**Johanna  
**First aid kit, wire, axes, three knives, two sleeping bags, a compass, three canteens of water, one without water, some dried meat and dried fruit. Not the best haul I've ever had, but it was better than a lot of people in this arena.

Phase one of the plan was complete. We had found Madge and Gale and acquired weapons. I chuckled, Madge was a fantastic actress, I wasn't sure why she ever doubted her skills. Haymitch had wanted to use her innocence as a giant 'fuck you' to the Capitol. An angel turned evil because of the instinct to kill or be killed.

We had crossed the water ring of the arena swiftly too. Luckily, Gale, Mags, Wiress and Katniss already knew how to swim, they quickly taught the others. Seeing as to I was the 'leader' of our pack, I went first, determining what was going on in the water. That was a show. Haymitch knew that the mutts wouldn't go into the water until only five tributes were left. The Capitol was sick. 'Let's make you think you're safe when you cross this big fucking river. Oh, just kidding. Now you're dead!' Hopefully we would already be gone by the time that happened.

All that was waiting was Finnick's signal. The fact that Finnick wasn't here was stressing everyone out. Everyone watching the games thought it was because of the alliance, but everyone in this group (except Gale, Katniss, and Peeta) knew better. We were stressed because Finnick was risking his life to secure the weapons from the Careers that we needed to make this plan work.

Haymitch had entrusted the secrets of this plan to only Finnick, Beetee, and I. The plan was simple and had four phases.

Phase One: Find Gale and Madge. Acquire a few weapons to survive the night.  
Phase Two: Wait for Finnick's signal that he has acquired a bow & several other weapons, and he has broken from the Career pack. When he does, walk due north in the forest ring of the arena. Find him, collect weapons.  
Phase Three: "Devise a plan." Make the three stooges believe we are blowing up the Career's food, actually devise plan to break out of the arena using the force field.  
Phase Four: (Haymitch and my personal favorite) Get out of the arena without getting any dumbasses caught.

I mentally crossed off the first phase. So far, everything was without a hitch. The only problem was keeping these brainless idiots fed until Finnick's signal. Finnick and I had agreed upon a huge fire. He was going to take a night watch for the Careers, set the fire, and hang them out to dry, slipping away with us. It was going to happen tomorrow night, so I needed to make sure we were all ready in case any of the other pack woke up and decided to pursue. I also needed to make sure I had these idiots due north in this ring.

I did chuckle and silently thank Haymitch. He had made sure to include Beetee's wire for the breakout and my compass in the original weapons, then had his 'friend in high places' place it strategically near Gale and I. His 'friend' thought it would be too obvious if they were in the same pack together, and covers would be blown. Whatever.

We decided to take different shifts, one partnership on each shift. Gale and Katniss took the first two hours, Peeta and Madge (who I had learned had wicked skill with a knife) took the next, with myself and Beetee taking the last. Of course, Wiress and Mags would sleep the whole night, considering they weren't much help to anyone, but I knew Katniss and I wouldn't sleep with them keeping any kind of watch anyway.

So I slept, or tried to. It was hard knowing that I was in this damn arena again, with people trying to fucking kill me, again. Whatever. I couldn't wait to kill President Snow when this fucking rebellion was over. I slept peacefully imagining how many axes I could put in his neck before he kicked the bucket.

**Gale  
**Katniss and I took the first watch of the first night. I didn't think the Careers would come hunting for us because that wasn't really their style. The first night was about the weaklings, the individuals. I figured we were safe as long as we let our presence known. I didn't think the Careers would try to overpower us. I also didn't know where Finnick's allegiances would lie…I thought we could rely on him and trust him, but his joining the Careers was something I didn't think would happen.

But he was from district four. District allegiances only go so far, so I guessed we would have to see.

I didn't want Katniss to stay awake during our watch; I could handle it myself and I knew she needed her rest if she was going to be worth a damn in hand to hand combat. I guess my face gave away my emotions, or maybe she was just reading my mind, "Gale. I'll be fine. I won these games just last year, I know how to kill. It's you I should be worried about."

"I know, Catnip. We need to find you a bow. If we can't scour one by tomorrow, we'll cut a branch and make one ourselves."

I pulled her into my arms, she was shaking, and it wasn't very cold. "Gale, I'm so worried. Everything has to go perfectly for us to get out of here alive. It's terrible to see so many victors just abandon their tributes. Easier for us, I guess."

I held her tightly and kissed the top of her head before I looked into those perfect grey eyes, "Katniss. _You_ are going home. With or without me. _You_ will be victor of this arena."

She smiled and we gathered the few weapons we had before settling in for the long hours.

And just as I predicted, nothing happened. We woke Peeta and Madge, handed over the weapons and took over their sleeping bag, still warm from their heat. The temperature in the arena had dropped to about 55 degrees, fucking Gamemakers and their cavalier attitudes. "Let's make you freeze to death! Seeing you shake while we're in our warm beds will be fun to watch!" they made me sick.

I looked at Katniss, her eyes searched mine. The corners of her mouth twitched upward, fighting a smile. _Let's make it fun to watch then._ I laughed, Katniss knew my dark mind inside and out, and she had gotten an idea to play for the cameras.

As soon as Madge and Peeta took watch, we snuggled inside the bag, draping my hunting jacket on the outside. I didn't know how or why they let me keep my jacket, but I didn't press it, the jacket felt like home for Katniss and I both. After making sure everyone was asleep, we began talking—wasting precious sleeping hours on these damn Capitol citizens. Trying to win them into sending us shit we needed.

"Gale," she began, head on my chest, one hand holding mine. "Are you glad you came in with me?"

I chuckled, I knew where she was headed with this, "You know better than to think I would have it any other way. Last year was enough torture for the rest of my life. There is only so much pacing a man can do before he starts to pull his hair out."

"So that's why I came home and you were practically bald!" She teased, laughing quietly.

"That wasn't true, I was only missing a few patches here and there!" I chuckled, knowing my mother and Mrs. Everdeen would be getting a kick out of this. Last year, Mrs. Everdeen _did_ actually give me some kind of herb lotion to wash my hair with since I did have some falling out. It was supposed to help with anxiety so I would stop pacing all the damn time.

_Just before they had made the announcement that two people could win, I had almost broke down. Whenever the games weren't on screen, I paced, I fidgeted, I shook my hands—anything to keep myself moving so I couldn't think. Even the easiest of tasks had to be severely concentrated on so I wouldn't lose my cool worrying. _

_I had almost started paying attention in class, _almost_. About the time I realized it may help to have homework and things to work on at night was about the time Katniss had met up with Peeta and everyone was talking about their potential love. Even teachers. Of course, everyone had tried to avoid talking to me about it when they could, they could all tell this was effecting me very badly._

_I had almost stopped going into the woods alone, I couldn't take it. Every turn in the forest reminded me of her and I just couldn't do it. Rory volunteered to go with me, to keep me sane. It worked for about five minutes, but I sucked it up and started really providing for our families. I would shoot the bare minimum of what we needed before hurrying back home, hoping I hadn't missed anything._

_By the time Katniss was invited to the 'feast' for Peeta's medicine, my anxiety was getting worse. When I saw the look in her eyes, she was going. I screamed at her not to, knowing she couldn't hear me. I started pacing again, almost breaking the only glass frame Mrs. Everdeen had of her and her husband. My mother, my brothers, my baby sister, Prim, and Mrs. Everdeen stared in awe as I swore loudly._

_"Gale Thomas Hawthorne! If you don't sit still now, and I mean _NOW_, I will tie you to the clothesline in the back yard and instruct Posy to squeeze lemon juice in your eyes every time you try to get free!" My mother was a pro at scolding._

_When she finished, I started to turn red from embarrassment before everyone started laughing at my mother's viciousness. "Now I know you're worried, dear. We all are, but watching you up and about only makes it harder on Prim and I," Mrs. Everdeen explained. After that, I tried to calm down, reserving my anger and sadness for the woods and the woods only._

I figured Catnip didn't need to know all of that. But she continued, "Last year's games were bad for you? No one from home ever told me how you reacted. They just said that you were upset."

I sighed, this was a hard part of a conversation. One I wasn't sure we needed to have with Capitol eyes watching. But Katniss had pressed it, so she either really wanted to know or she thought my answer would help.

"Catnip, you know me better than anyone else. How do you think I was?" Heh, let her make the moves from now on. I also sent her a silent message, squeezing her hand and willing her to understand my eyes, _I'll back up whatever you say._

She seemed to understand, but then smiled, _Answer honestly anyway._ "Gale, tell me!" she giggled quietly. Damn females, they have ammo that boys don't and can get us to do whatever they want.

"I was a wreck. I couldn't eat, couldn't sleep, I damn sure couldn't concentrate on school work. I spent nearly every day rushing to lunch, to your house, everywhere I went, rushing to get in front of a TV to see highlights of the hell you were in. I didn't eat unless I knew that you had, yelled obscene words at the TV when you nearly dehydrated. Prim and I woke up the whole neighborhood almost every time you came in close contact with someone. Madge told me that I walked around school in a daze when you got back up to Peeta. My mom threatened to tie me up outside and squirt lemon juice in my eyes if I didn't calm the hell down."

She laughed before responding. "Was there anything else?" I almost smiled in the dark, Katniss was smooth. I knew exactly what she wanted me to mention, her own act of rebellion before the berries.

Rue.

"The day she died, Prim and I had watched from the square. I cried with Prim in my arms watching you sing Rue to sleep. It was beautiful. They cut it off before you covered her with flowers, but the entire district saw your salute. One minute I was looking at the screen, the next moment I had pressed my fingers to my mouth and stretched them to you. The last image we had that day was of you saluting our district, and all of twelve saluting you back. After that, everyone was fired up for you. You were all anyone could talk about. Girls actually started to leave me alone once it was apparent that you had a chance." Oops…I really hadn't meant for that last sentence to come out…That was something I really didn't want Katniss to know.

"What? Girls came after you when I was reaped?"

"Yeah, Catnip. They thought you and I were going to end up together; everyone knew I only had eyes for you. When you volunteered, they thought I would simply accept your impending death and move on. Not so much," I squeezed her cheek, teasing her. I kissed her head and said it was time for bed.

Within minutes, she was out cold. I was left thinking over my feelings. I had just declared myself to all of Panem, probably embarrassing several girls back in district twelve for their stupidity. I just hoped it would help, both in the arena and with helping her fall in love with me.


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter twelve.  
Reward**

**Haymitch.  
**Those sneaky little asses. Katniss and that boy were geniuses. And that boy was one of the most hotheaded, arrogant son-of-a-bitch I had met.

This coming from a man who was at the Capitol twice a year.

I wanted to send them some kind of signal—what they had just said was perfect. Talking about her games last year would get us just the right amount of sympathy to make this work. I needed to get her to do it more.

In the last games, we had developed a silent communication through whatever I sent her. Kisses for soup, a finale for medicine. I snorted and sipped my drink. Vodka had gotten to where it tasted damn good.

She would understand the message I was about to send her. I clicked the buttons and sent the parachute. _Making the Capitol look bad gets you lamb stew, sweetheart._

Something at the bottom of the screen in the mentor's room caught my eye. I poured myself more to drink. This was going to be an interesting night. I technically wasn't his mentor, but he was my responsibility. I walked to district four's station and made the decision.

**Finnick**  
One more night, that was all it would take. Tomorrow night I would send Johanna the signal and I would break with this pack to join the rebels. Haymitch had agreed to send me rolls from my district if he felt I needed to break away right then. So far, no rolls had been sent, but there had been so much death… I only killed who I had to, but it still wasn't enough. The tributes from district two and Enobaria had taken the bow, taunting Katniss as soon as they got it. I only hoped I could secure it—it was vital to the plan of breaking everybody out.

The Careers had decided to camp out in the cornucopia for the last two nights, same as always. They were so predictable, that's why I didn't really care for anybody I had to mentor. I liked the tributes from outlying districts, most of the time they didn't know how they were 'supposed' to act and became unpredictable. Unpredictable was the most dangerous thing someone could be in this arena.

I agreed to take the first watch, saying it had been my favorite to take during my games. Which it was, but that wasn't why I wanted it this week. Enobaria, the leader of this alliance, allowed it and made everyone hand over their long range weapons to me for the second night in a row. Excellent.

Haymitch had told me to have a fire ready, just in case I needed to break the alliance early. So I had made a fire pit while pretending to take a leak and fill my water bottle. About an hour into my watch, Haymitch sent the rolls.

I counted them: one dozen. I had one hour to get the hell out of there. _Damn it!_ I wondered what Haymitch had seen that I hadn't, but I didn't question it long. I quickly ate some of the bread, (especially the one piece that had a mockingjay stamped into it) and put most of it in my backpack. Grabbed the bow, strung two knives they wouldn't miss into my belt, and grabbed a spear. Surely that was enough weapons. The bow was the main thing. Johanna and Beetee were supposed to already have the compass and the wire.

I waited a little longer, pretending I had grabbed the weapons out of nervousness. I jumped once at a 'sound' behind me, before deciding to go investigate. I had to work hard to cover my smile before I ventured out.

As soon as I was out of sight, I headed for the fire pit. Knowing a camera was on me to see what I was doing, I put my three middle fingers to my mouth and outstretched them, just like Haymitch had insisted. I pulled a match out of my backpack and set it ablaze, running like hell to the north. Good thing I had an excellent sense of direction.

**Peeta  
**If there was anyone I wanted by my side to die in this arena, it was Madge. She was so sweet, compassionate, innocent, and beautiful. I sighed, Madge was the complete opposite of Katniss (except for being beautiful). Maybe I'd had enough of her hostile personality. I needed someone more my own speed.

I laughed out loud._ Why am I thinking these things? I'm doing to _die_ here. True love isn't an option._

As Madge and I sat in comfortable silence holding hands, she suddenly tensed up, "Oh no. Do you see that, Peeta? Just there, above the tree line?"

I followed to where she was pointing. "A fire? Surely the gamemakers aren't getting involved this early?"

"Wake up Johanna. Tell her it's the signal."

Thoroughly confused, I woke Johanna up and told her about the 'signal.' She shot up, "Get everyone ready, _NOW PEETA!"_

I rushed to wake up Mags, Wiress, and Beetee. Gale and Katniss were already awake, putting everything together. Hm, Katniss was packing a parachute into her backpack and suppressing a smile. A gift already? Odd. I hurried to scoop up sleeping bags and hand Johanna her compass when asked. Gale made sure everyone except Mags and Wiress had something to defend themselves with, and we ran in the opposite direction of the fire. I was still puzzled on what it signaled, but I didn't want to stop and ask because I was pretty sure Johanna would kill me if I questioned her right now.

We ran through the forest at an angle, an arc by my best guess. I had wondered if the forest covered most of the arena, but I figured no one else knew, so I hadn't voiced it. We had been running for a mile or so when Johanna came to a halt. She stopped and looked around before muttering "North" to herself and yelling at the rest of us to keep on the alarm.

I found my voice, "Johanna, what was the signal for?"

She smiled a devilish, dark grin, "Finnick has broken his alliance with the Careers."


	13. Chapter 13

A/N; A couple of shorter chapters today! Probably going to post a few more later tonight as well. i've got up to chapter 19 written now, and i'm so excited for what's happening that i basically can't hold it in and not let you guys read it! I'm selfless, i know.

You get to see a little more of Gale and Katniss's "secret language" that you guys have been telling me about!  
So read up, hope you enjoy and as always, please review :)

**Chapter thirteen  
Trap**

**Gale**

So I had been right—I loved being right. Being right was possibly the best feeling in the world. Finnick had potentially sacrificed himself to bring us weapons, according to Johanna. God, this was awesome. According to Johanna, she and Finnick had agreed for him to join the Career pack because they would trust him and he could get a few weapons. Nothing too big since Johanna had her axes, possibly a knife for Peeta and me, maybe a sword or a bat or something easy for combat, but Katniss needed a bow.

Katniss with a bow was like poetry in motion…if that poetry resulted in the death of everything she shot at.

We waited, and waited. Finnick hadn't appeared through the trees yet. Johanna insisted on us being silent so she could hear him. We waited until the sun started to rise before we saw him. Ragged and breathing hard. He had a black eye and his clothing had been cut to expose a shoulder wound. Didn't look deep, but still needed attention. Johanna ran to him, "Did they follow?"

Finnick responded by nodding his head and handing her the weapons. Johanna went into survival mode. "Wiress, Beetee, Mags. Do you remember that cover of trees I pointed out?" They nodded, "take him there. Take my backpack, and use the first aid kit to dress his wounds. Finnick, don't argue. Hand me your spear."

She turned to Madge and softened her expression, "Can you do this?"

Madge meekly nodded, clearly affected by what she just saw. And why shouldn't she be? That was probably one of the most gruesome things she had ever seen. Johanna handed her a spear and Finnick's smaller knife and told her not to throw them unless she knew she could kill. Johanna had also sent a knife with the three that went with Finnick to protect themselves.

Peeta and I each got two of the four remaining knives Finnick had brought while Katniss readied herself with her bow and sheath of arrows. We took our positions and waited for the kill.

**Haymitch  
**Damn Enobaria. Damn her. The plan was going great until she woke up and had caught Finnick's trail. Johanna had caught the signal in time—I was glad Madge had been on that shift. Katniss and that boy knew well enough to know it was a bad thing, but Peeta was oblivious.

I felt bad that I'd had to send Finnick on with little warning, but one of my 'friends' in the gamemaker room had told me that they were sending mutts to attack the Careers in a little over an hour. Wise move for entertainment's sake—everyone except Career districts hated Careers, and they never really got attacked by mutts. So I had sent the rolls. Finnick had followed the plan exactly as I wanted.

From the mentor's room, I could easily switch to a view of whichever tribute I wanted. I switched from Johanna to Finnick, wondering how Beetee was going to fix him. Beetee wasn't exactly a medical genius—engineering was more his thing. This whole plan to break them out was going to have to come from his mind, although I'd already given him the basics. I saw the gears working in his head and knew Finnick was going to be fine.

I switched back to the view of Madge. That girl was also a genius. I had made a fantastic decision and congratulated myself once again. Johanna handed her that weapon and she looked like she could cry. But she was going to have to go into that survival mode. And I knew she could do it.

Katniss and Gale had the calm cool faces of hunters. They motioned to Johanna to let them lead, since they had the most experience in this kind of hunt, she nodded. "You, Peeta, and Madge stay here. You'll all be too loud, we'll scope them out, shoot if we have to. We'll whistle when we want you to come forward." Damn, Katniss could be really driven when she had an objective in mind.

Katniss led the way, Gale flanking her left. It was eerie the way the two of them seemed to move as one person, the kind of achievement only _years_ of hunting together and trusting each other could accomplish. I had heard their story throughout the district, they were legend. But this was my first time seeing it myself.

She stopped, looking at Gale. He seemed to catch whatever her meaning was, because he made some kind of bird call with his hands, a turkey I think. She bent low to listen for the Careers to make a sound and motioned to her right. Gale nodded. He raised his eyebrows and she nodded again, smiling darkly. He smiled before he let one of the knives fly and I heard it thud into someone's back. The cannon sounded, he found his knife, and the hovercraft quickly collected him.

She smiled at him and they began to cover a circle around where Johanna and the alliance was, searching everything in a half mile radius. Before it was said and done, she had shot two tributes in their sleep, Gale sending a knife deep into the neck of another. And the two of them _never, made, a, single, sound._ Another shared look and the two of them kissed their fingers and stretched them in the District 12 salute.

I looked around to some of the other mentors, most of them had their mouths hanging open. _What the hell just happened?_

District twelve hadn't exaggerated their hunting skills, or their ability to communicate. I couldn't wait to ask what they hell they had been saying. I also couldn't hide my smile at the salute. Genius, those kids were. Didn't realize what the hell they were doing to add to our cause, I loved it.

Counting some of the cannon blasts from earlier that Katniss and Gale had missed, that meant 27 tributes in all were gone, 19 from the bloodbath, 4 from the Career hunt, and the four Gale and Katniss just killed. 27 tributes in two days, little over half the field. The Gamemakers clearly had a deadline to work with, or a target they wanted to kill. But that was okay, we did too.

**Katniss  
**I couldn't help but feel a little high after what Gale and I just did. When I asked to go off by ourselves, I was hoping that he knew I wanted to hunt. I wanted to show the audience exactly what kind of hunters they had sent in this year. We could have killed a lot more people, in fact, Gale had even asked to, but we covered a half mile radius, we didn't need to go out any farther for the moment.

We began moving back to camp, I led while Gale covered my back. Johanna breathed a sigh of relief when we reached them, and I explained the four cannon shots and how Gale and I had moved. We stopped just in time for the anthem to play and the dead tributes and victors to show. We told Madge to count.

Two from One gone, all of two was alive. Beetee and Wiress's tributes had both died, all of four was alive, all of Five and Six were gone. Johanna was the only person left from Seven, all but one from Eight gone, all four from Nine gone, but one from Ten, and all from Eleven.

Lots of death today. Finnick had assured us that the Career pack was still together: the three from District One, three from District Two, and the two District Four tributes. I gave Finnick a good look over…He had definitely had better days. Beetee had repaired the shoulder wound, but with no Capitol products, it would be healing for a while. But luckily, it was his left hand—he was right handed. So if we got him a trident, he could still kill.

Our pack included me, Gale, Peeta, Madge, Johanna, Finnick, Mags, Wiress, Beetee. Nine against seven. The odds were nice. I smiled at Gale.

That crooked smile had occupied his face again. It looked kind of crazy given that only I had understood he wasn't smiling about the deaths of people we knew. Johanna looked at me crazily, "Why is he smiling?"

I laughed, "Gale has an idea for the rest of the Career pack."

"Is that a good thing?"

Gale answered, "that is _always _a good thing."

I saw the gears working in his head. Gale was going to trap the Careers.


	14. Chapter 14

**Chapter Fourteen.  
Changes**

**Madge  
**I didn't know why I was so worried. The second phase of our plan was a success. Finnick was healing up and we were set to go. Gale and Beetee had even gone to work on what would actually be the plan to get us out of the arena. It was risky to have Gale help come up with it. Although he thought we were just trapping the Careers and then killing them with an explosion, Beetee was actually looking for a place in the force field where we could shoot an arrow to blow it. He had apparently shown Katniss one of these "chinks" in the armor during training.

I didn't like that Gale could look like he knew so much, it would only make it that much worse if he were caught. I stopped worrying about it and began to focus on the hunting we were doing. Another two cannons boomed out.

Katniss was good. Damn good. She was even better when Gale was beside her. Their communication was phenomenal. I felt like applauding.

I hadn't had the chance to kill anyone yet, Haymitch didn't want my first kill to come unless it was self-defense. Oh well, that wouldn't take long.

Johanna wanted us to take one of the cornucopias, which was where the Careers were camping. They had retreated and been hiding out after they saw Katniss and Gale take down those four people. We had been hunting all day, only finding whoever those two people were. I felt bad, but then I realized anyone who hadn't joined with us was an enemy, not only to us, but to the rebellion.

Katniss stopping brought me back to my senses. She mouthed something to Gale, then again to Johanna. _Danger, be quiet._ Peeta flexed up with the spear. I had two knives. When out of the clearing, it appeared that the Eight and Ten tributes had joined together rather than be with the careers.

I heard a leaf crunch, I turned around and threw the knife before realizing I was supposed to kill in self-defense. Sorry, Haymitch.

Eight had my bigger knife stuck between ribs, he chuckled before dropping to the ground and the cannon fired. I didn't know where Ten was, but I saw a flicker of movement before Katniss let an arrow fly into his neck, and Gale threw the spear at his heart.

_Wrong move._

Johanna caught my dark smile, "Well what do you know. Witnesses one murder and before we know it, she's a natural born killer. Nice throw."

The three clueless members of our squad just stood there with their mouths open. Obviously, Katniss hadn't realized I was the one who threw the knife or she wouldn't have shot the other guy as automatically as she had. I shrugged, "Kill or be killed, right?'

We picked their weapons up, two more knives, another spear, and to Gale's happiness, a bow. With those four, all that was left was the Career pack, which now contained eight people. We had nine, pretty even odds.

Gale's plan was brilliant though, and Beetee had come up with the explosions, courtesy of Haymitch. This was going to work.

**Gale  
**Katniss and I were very proud of ourselves. Most of the kills in our alliance had been ours. We were pretty lethal when we wanted to be. "Gale, do you think we should send everyone else to the cornucopia and try to track them? Johanna, Peeta, and Finnick can protect them if need be."

"You forgot Madge. I've never seen anyone throw a knife with such rage. Guess it's true: the arena changes people."

"Shut up, Gale. I didn't change." Oh, but she did. No time to think about that. My trap for the Careers was going to be similar to Katniss and Rue's blowing up their food last year. I had planned a pretty big and complex snare with the huge supply of rope my backpack gave us. But I wasn't going to do it how I normally would.

The Career pack knew that I was something of a whiz with them, the training room had no secrets among this year's tributes. So I was going to leave it out where they could see it. I wanted them to see it, I wanted them to think that we were hunting them. While that was going on, Beetee and I would be attaching the electrical current from the explosives (not that I knew how to do that, Beetee did) to an arrow, and Katniss would fire it at their supply of food.

Simple, but brilliant, as Johanna would put it. I set my snare two miles from the cornucopia, lighting a fire at dusk to draw them to it, but still light enough that they could see the snare.

Katniss and I ran, knowing we were in good enough shape to beat them to our alliance than they were to get to this fire.

We crossed the water ring of the arena and headed through the jungle to the clearing, slowing down to wait for pursuit or to hear our people.

As I suspected, Beetee was ready, all he needed was an arrow to attach the current to. He had a detonator with the explosives, so Katniss could get away, but it was a two person job. Two people had to sacrifice themselves to set it off so the others could get away… we all stared at each other uncomfortably. I would gladly give my life for Katniss, so I raised my eyes to volunteer, meeting hers first.

She pleaded with me, _please don't do this._

Before I could send a message back, Mags volunteered. "I'm at the end of my life, and it's been a good one. No reason you young kids should have your years stolen because I'm an old hag scared to die." She smiled and Wiress stepped up to grab her hand, they would be in this together, and Beetee told her what to press just before Katniss's arrow hit its mark.

**Johanna.  
**Ten rolls, _okay Haymitch, I get it. We need to do this quickly._ Anything more than one dozen meant over an hour, anything less meant hurry the hell up. I wondered what was so damn important, but I figured it wasn't my place to question the authority…yet.

Beetee and Katniss were almost ready. Just before she poised up and got ready to let the arrow fly, I stopped her. I went closer to almost embrace her in a hug. I chuckled when she started to pull away and I began to whisper in her ear, "Katniss, nod or shake your head, do you remember when Beetee told you about the 'chinks' in the armor?" Nod. "Good, do you see any within shooting range?" Another nod. "Do you trust me?" Nod. "Okay, Haymitch is in on this, I want you to shoot your arrow at the force field, hit the chink directly. Do not, I repeat, do _not _give yourself away until right before you shoot."

She nodded again. Gale hated to be left out of anything, "What the hell was that?"

"Shut up, lover boy. I was asking Katniss questions about how you looked with your clothes off."

He turned a deep shade of red and finally closed his mouth, I knew that wouldn't be on television, but he didn't. "And you better shut up before I tell all of Panem your secret." His eyebrows raised, then he looked to Katniss. I knew better than to think she had seen him naked, but she turned red too—predictable.

Everything was set, we got ready to run for the hills when I nodded at Mags, then at Katniss.

She got ready to let the arrow fly just as I heard screams throughout the clearing.

_Shit._ Guess I figured out what Haymitch was warning me about.


	15. Chapter 15

A/N: As promised, the second part of my update today! A few roles reversed, let me know if you like it or don't like it! Always review! I take your opinions seriously :)

**Chapter 15.  
Escape**

**Haymitch  
**Just before Johanna spoke to Katniss, Plutarch 'demanded' to have a word with me. I was the only rebellion mentor in the control room, so I knew what this was about. The time was upon us.

Plutarch looked nervous, "Katniss and Gale seemed _very_ adjusted to the arena."

He was speaking the Mockingjay Code. Damn it, more work for me. He meant that everything was going to plan. What was my response again? … oh yeah…

"Yes, hopefully they'll get the Career's foodstuffs blown up within the hour." _We should be ready in less than an hour. _"Haven't you been watching, Plutarch? It's all the damn kids have been talking about." _Watch for the signal._

"Yes, yes, I know. We've been busy with _other_ things, Haymitch." _I've been planning the mutt attack I told you about. _"I am glad everything is in order now, it was a doozy." _The mutts were going to suck, glad we'll be able to get them out._

We parted ways and he walked down the hall to arrange the hovercraft to get me, then we'd pick up the kids and be off to 13. Yeah, it wasn't the most complex code, but I _am_ a drunk, if only in theory. And being a drunk allows me to say things the normal sober person wouldn't say. I looked into the mentor room. That boy and Katniss were blushing, _nice touch, Johanna._ She was playing the cameras well for the two of them.

I got the signal from Plutarch and went to board the hovercraft. There was a monitor set up so I could watch the action unfold. I knew that no one would notice my absence in the action coming.

As Katniss got ready to shoot the arrow, Careers had entered the clearing, mutts on their tail. _Son of a bitch_, I growled and watched the action unfold. Madge threw a spear into the district four tribute's heart, Peeta had a knife thrown at an older lady. Gale had broken the neck of some guy from One, and Katniss had dropped her electric arrow for another to send through Enobaria's neck. Half the career pack gone.

Another arrow, another spear, three knives and the bird/mutts that had been attacking the Careers were dead.

Johanna had come in direct hand to hand combat with a bigger surly guy from four. Finnick yelled at him, "Jacob…stop this. It doesn't have to be this way; you know it doesn't." Jacob was one of the people from home who Finnick liked and had tried to get to join our side. He lunged at Johanna as Madge buried a knife in his neck.

Johanna yelled at Katniss to let the arrow fly. Mags pressed the button (instantly dying and sacrificing herself and Wiress), and the whole thing went up in smoke. Luckily Plutarch had some kind of Capitol device that let them see through the smokiness. Johanna had knocked out Gale, Katniss, and Peeta and removed their trackers before we pulled them up. Beetee and Finnick were next, followed by Johanna and Madge.

We were stopped, the claw was empty. Johanna and Madge were still down there.

"_PLUTARCH!_" I hadn't yelled like this in a long time, "Get your ASS down there and GET THEM!"

"There's no time. We've secured the Mockingjay, take off to 13 is now commencing."

I threw the bottle of brandy in my hand against the wall. I was furious and he knew it—I'd never sacrifice alcohol. "What in the fucking hell do you think you're doing?! BOTH of them know entirely TOO MUCH TO LEAVE THEM!"

I started to scream so much that I'm not even sure what I was screaming about. I'm pretty sure I insulted his mother at least twice, called him every name I could think of, and tried to sling parts of my broken bottle at him. But I'll give the son of a bitch one thing, he just took it. He knew it was wrong, but he was raised in the Capitol. Human life wasn't of much worth, not like it is in 12.

Before I began to take down the entire hovercraft, I walked to where the kids were waiting. Finnick was crying—he was very close to Johanna. Best friends I think. Peeta had already woken and been told the news—tears stained his face.

"Peeta, Finnick…I'm very sorry. They won't kill them, and we _will_ get them back. That I promise you."

"Damn you, Haymitch. Damn you. Why didn't you tell me, Gale, or Katniss about this? It would have been nice to know." I felt so sorry for Peeta, having finally found happiness in the arena before having it plucked from him again.

"I don't know what to say. All I know is I can send you to the people responsible and we can arrange a rescue mission. We have several rebels in the Capitol ranks who can help us out."

This seemed to pacify them as they were knocked back out. I walked to the room Gale and Katniss were in. It had just seemed like a better idea to go ahead and put them in the same room, rather than convince them the other was alive and have to chase them all over the damn hovercraft. I sat and waited for them to wake.

**Katniss**  
Everything was foggy. Every sense I had felt like it was being pushed down into this fog so I couldn't see it. Not only that I couldn't see, I couldn't hear, I couldn't touch anything. I was fuzzy.

I heard a glimpse of a voice. I fought the fog; I fought the darkness… who was calling to me? Someone was calling me back.

"Katniss…Katniss, can you hear me?" I wanted to answer my little duck, I wanted to answer so badly…I couldn't. I surrendered to the darkness.

After I regained my consciousness, I heard another voice… a deeper, huskier voice calling to me, I recognized it right away. "Catnip…honey please answer… Catnip?"

I fought the darkness—I won. "Gale?"

I opened my eyes as I heard sighs of relief from throughout the room. Haymitch was the next person I picked up on, and I instantly scowled. Gale laughed.

"Gale, what happened?" He explained to me that there had been a plan to break us all out from the beginning, one we didn't know about. Haymitch chimed in and explained the purpose of that—to which I scowled, but I understood. He just wanted to make sure our torture wouldn't suck as badly. When Gale was done explaining the rolls and the phases of the plan, how the wire had worked, etc, his face fell. So did everyone else's.

"Okay, so if it worked and all, where are Johanna and Madge?"

Gale was the only one who spoke. "They didn't make it back…the Capitol got to them first."

Peeta began crying again and left the room. Sending Madge to her death was one thing. I believed Peeta had never made for her to have a painful death—he would have found nightlock or something similar. The fact that Madge was being tortured in the Capitol, the fact that Madge was _suffering_, was something he had never intended on happening. I began to feel hot tears on my face too, "What did she know?"

"Don't interrupt. She only knew that there was a rebellion. She didn't know how many forces we have. She knew about the plan to break you out, and she knew that you were headed to District 13."

I interrupted, "_Thirteen?_ Is that where we are? I thought thirteen was gone?"

"Sweetheart, I asked you not to interrupt. Thirteen is alive and well, they have actually been aiding us trying to get you out. That's where you are now. Everything is fine."

But everything was _not_ fine.

A few hours later, President Coin approached Gale and I in my hospital bed. We were almost asleep when she knocked on the door. "Everdeen, Hawthorne. I need to speak to you both."

We sat up, annoyed. We had been talking about our roles in this thing and how we could get Johanna and Madge back, and almost drifted to sleep in the process. Coin continued, "You are here today because of the rebellion that happened 75 years ago. The districts tried to break away from the Capitol and had a very powerful ally: District 13. You have been taught that 13 was made of graphite miners, this is not the case. 13 was the nuclear power cell of Panem. In order to prevent nuclear war throughout the country, 13 agreed to basically disappear, to be cut off from the Capitol and all of Panem. But we have not kept our end of the bargain. We have been preparing for this Hunger Games for 75 years, waiting for someone to publicly embarrass the Capitol, someone who was willing to join us."

"Katniss Everdeen, you have been dubbed the Girl on Fire. Because of your lovely pin and the dress Cinna gave you, you have also been dubbed the Mockingjay. Which is a lovely fit, I think. The Capitol never intended the Jabberjays to bond with Mockingbirds. The Capitol made an entirely different breed without intending to."

"Miss Everdeen, that is what you are. You are the symbol of the second rebellion that the Capitol never intended to exist. You and Mr. Hawthorne here are the breed the Capitol never wanted to have: a breed that hates them enough to stand out and stand up to them."

"We want you to be the Mockingjay. The symbol of this rebellion. We want you to put hope into the hearts of the people of Panem, and to strike fear deep within the core of the Capitol. You have gone through so much already, you should know that because of your actions, the people will look to you whether you desire them to or not. The easiest thing you can do is to accept this and to do all you can to help us."

Her eyes narrowed, "Will you accept?"

I looked to Gale, asking him with my eyes for advice.

He nodded, _you should accept._ Pain flashed across his features, and I understood the reasoning. I turned to Coin.

"I accept, for Johanna and Madge. When is the earliest we can get them out of that damn prison?"


	16. Chapter 16

**Chapter 16.  
United**

**Gale  
**I can't say I didn't think Katniss would accept, because I knew she would. As soon as Coin uttered the words, I looked at Katniss and saw it written all over her face. She knew she could make a difference, the problem was Katniss didn't know _how much_ of a difference she could make.

Haymitch had asked me to come away from her bedside about two days after we had left the arena. The blast had damaged my hearing (which was repaired), and the impact from the explosion had sent me hurdling, breaking about four bones in my left arm. Katniss had more extensive damage and would be asleep for about 5-7 days longer than I had, Haymitch explained.

"Kid, I have something I want to show you before anyone comes around trying to get you or her to do anything you down want to. Now, I know she listens to you more than anyone except her sister, which is why I'm showing you this. She isn't ready yet, neither is Peeta. But both of them will trust your judgment on this."

As he was talking, he led me farther and farther underground. I cringed, I hadn't wanted to ever go into the mines like my father. I hated the underground; I always wanted to be outside, even as a kid.

_Katniss and I never had conversations about the future. It was too painful to live in a place like we did and to imagine the possibility of marriage and kids. I had always wanted them, playing dolls with Posy and wrestling with Vick and Rory wasn't really enough for me. I wanted my own children to call me Daddy. I wanted a beautiful wife to cook I meal that I had shot, someone to hold in my arms and protect every night._

_Sure, that wasn't every 16 year old boy's dream, but it was mine. As Katniss and I got closer, I realized that _she _was the faceless woman cooking meals in my daydreams. For a few weeks, while I wrestled my feelings, I was also on a bit of a 'slump' in the woods. Everything I shot was missing its mark because I was so damn distracted._

_On a clear and crisp fall day, my snares had managed to catch us enough rabbit for a stew, and two to sell. Catnip had brought down three squirrels and wanted more, as always. "Why don't we just rest for a while? I'm not hitting anything anyway." We laid our bare feet in the ice cold water and began talking, taking the conversation deeper than we ever had._

_"We could do it, you know. Run away, you and I, we could make it."_

_She smiled, "Gale you know I can't do that." Her eyes fogged up the way they did when she was concentrating on something she didn't like. "You're sixteen years old. I'm fourteen. We're probably the most capable of running away, but we couldn't do it now even if we wanted. We couldn't take care of each other yet. Much less if something happened."_

_"Mom wants me to start thinking about starting the mines. She knows a supervisor who worked with dad…I could start going down in the summer and making money for us."_

_"Gale, that's illegal."_

_"I know it is, Catnip, but so is hunting. Doesn't stop us. I don't think it's something I ever want to do. I love being outside too much. I wish I could hunt as a job. You and I could provide for the whole district if we set our minds to it."_

_"I could never rest easy if you went in the mines. You can never go down there, Gale."_

In that moment, I had resolved that I never would, not if I ever wanted to keep Katniss.

Haymitch stopped at the end of the long hallway connected to the elevator. Everything here was so _grey_. And not like the color of Katniss's eyes, which was like mist, like clouds right before a light rain… this was bland, colorless, disgusting.

Haymitch opened the door to a large room with several televisions and projection screens. "Boy, watch this."

The video was of people, different crowds of people. As I focused in, I realized these people were standing in front of Justice Buildings. Each screen had a number underneath it. "Each screen shows what each district did after Katniss sang Rue to sleep. See, she extends her hand in the salute, now watch."

District 11 had my attention. Each member of the crowd pressed three fingers to their lips and extended them to the screen. I even caught a couple Peacekeepers doing it too and chuckled. But then the scene turned ugly. Mothers scrambling to collect children and steer them away, while big brawny District 11 men began to overturn grain containers, sending them on Peacekeepers. Fights broke out between the two groups, guns were taken, people were shot. My eyes widened in amazement, this was amazing. Why was I just now seeing it?

To answer my unsaid question, Plutarch Heavensbee, the head Gamemaker this year, spoke for the first time, "the Capitol didn't want anyone to see this. Snow didn't want any other district getting any ideas. He cracked down hard on 11 and insisted that I kill Katniss as soon as I could in the Quell."

I spit, Snow had planned this Quell. Bastard. Haymitch started to speak again, "Now, look at the screens. This was right after Finnick saluted before setting the signal fire."

I hadn't seen that yet, so I watched the footage of Finnick and turned to the District 4 screen. Every single person in that audience saluted, arms outstretched. I grinned, this was perfect and I knew exactly where Haymitch was going with it.

Another screen showed Districts 5, 6, 7, and 8 in the same salute.

"She's united the entire country without meaning to, hasn't she?"

Haymitch had laughed, "She certainly has. Imagine what she could do if she actually knew what she was doing."

**Peeta**  
I couldn't live with the guilt. Haymitch and Finnick had assured me that Johanna and Madge had known exactly what they were getting in to, which didn't help. Annie Cresta, Finnick's long lost love, had also been captured before 13 could rescue her. Finnick was beside himself, he had more reason to be upset than I did. Annie knew nothing, Annie had asked for none of this. She just loved Finnick and he loved her back.

The very thought made me cry. Gale had surprised me on the hovercraft before he was put out with drugs. I had immediately started asking about Madge, never noticing that Katniss wasn't there. "Thought you were in love with my girl, should have figured though. The Capitol took her from me and tried to give her someone who _didn't even deserve her._" He had spit the last words, turning over.

I knew that Gale hadn't intended to make me feel worse like that, he was just upset because of what happened. I couldn't blame him, because had I been in his shoes, I might have said worse to the man who was supposed to love someone I loved more than my own life.

13 was torture. We had no idea what was happening to them and there was no way to find out without blowing the cover of someone important. We just had to wait until they called us with news.

Two weeks after arriving, Haymitch got the call. Apparently a doctor Snow had employed was on our side. He informed Haymitch that both Johanna and Madge were alive. They had quickly gathered what little Madge knew and left her alone as far as the doctor knew (to my relief), but Johanna knew much more, and the Capitol people knew that, they would also do anything they could to get it out of her.

Torture. Who knew the horrors Johanna was facing. All the while, I was here in my warm bed with plenty to eat. I wanted to die.

Katniss had agreed to be the Mockingjay under several conditions.  
1. Immunity for the Capitol hostages.  
2. Katniss and Gale could hunt every day.  
3. I could bake with the kitchen to keep me busy.  
4. Finnick was asked for his opinion when it came to matters of rescue.  
5. Katniss could kill Snow.

The only one that really mattered to me was the immunity. Who knew what Madge or Johanna would come back as, and we needed to know that we would be able to take care of them rather than kill them on the spot. I liked that I would have something to occupy my time, but it wasn't the most pressing thing on my mind.

Finnick had taught me a method that was a lot better than pacing—knot tying. So for hours on end, I would tie knots until my fingers bled, waiting patiently and desperately for news.


	17. Chapter 17

**A/N:** Okay, please note that my computer crashed this morning. i decided to take a different direction with these chapters than i had originally planned, i think i like it a little better this way.

please keep reviewing, you guys rock :)

* * *

**Chapter 17**

**Party**

**Gale  
**The next six weeks were a great period of adjustment…for everyone except the victors.

Mrs. Everdeen and Prim had taken to working vicious long hours at the hospital, and that suited them just fine. Prim was taking medical classes during the day and heading straight to her mother's side to help with the wounded at night.

My family was also easily adjusting to 13. My mother had been recruited by Haymitch to help with the cleaning, the washing, the cooking, the teaching…and, everything. While Mrs. Everdeen and Prim's schedules were often predictable, my mother's wasn't.

Rory, Vick, and Posy had all started school in 13. Vick had truly found his calling in the home of books, ten years old and had already begun reading and understanding the pre-Panem books my father had left us. He would hound Beetee at mealtimes, discussing ancient philosophies. Beetee wasn't as annoyed as the rest of us; he loved having someone he could have an intellectual conversation with.

Rory had just turned 14, and looking at him was like looking into a mirror. He had also realized what a girl was, and how much he liked them, Prim in particular. Whenever he saw Katniss and I in the hallways, he would always stop her to ask what Prim was doing that day. The answer was always the same, and Rory's face would always fall the same way.

Posy's 5th birthday was in a week, and she was letting _everyone_ know about it. On the six week anniversary of our arrival, she demanded me to take her when I went to command because her birthday was on a school day and she wouldn't be able to go then. "Okay, princess. But if they kick you out, there isn't anything I can do about it."

"Shut up, Gale. They'll love Miss Posy!" Katniss had encouraged her.

I chuckled and put her on my shoulders as I held Katniss's hand and went down to command.

Coin was the first to make a face of disapproval, but Posy quickly announced, "It's my birthday! I should get to make an important decision!" Haymitch just giggled over Coin being silenced by a five year old.

"Well, well, Miss Hawthorne. What would you like to decide for your birthday?" Plutarch crooned to her.

"I want school cancelled so everyone can celebrate!"

He laughed, "don't think I can do that one. Hmmmm…" He put his hand on his beard, exaggerating his thoughts. "I think I have an idea! What if we threw you a birthday party?"

Posy clapped her hands together and squealed in excitement, "With a big, big cake? I've never had a cake on my birthday!"

"Yes, Posy!" Peeta walked over and took her from my shoulders, "I would _love_ to make you a big, big cake with your name on it!" He took her away in the next room and began planning what colors and flavors she would want. I looked to Katniss and smiled, Peeta needed a distraction.

Now that he wasn't in love with my girlfriend, I kinda liked that guy.

**Katniss  
**Seeing Peeta get so excited over a cake for a five year old made my heart swell. It was wartime, and the Capitol was threatening to come down hard, but even the smallest of pleasures could still be celebrated.

Plutarch was beaming—he looked as excited and as shaky as Beetee did when he got a big idea. I looked to Gale, communicating with only my eyes, _what is he thinking?_

Gale grinned and signaled to Posy, then rolled his eyes. I understood, they were going to use her birthday as a propo.

Over six weeks, I had made several propos, some with Gale, and some with Peeta. Beetee hadn't quite perfected breaking into the Capitol's broadcasting systems yet. The most he could get was about 20 seconds before the Capitol broke back in. which was okay, because most of them were 10 second propos anyway.

But as the conversation around us stirred from birthday parties to rescue plans, I saw the inner workings of Gale's mind. He was using the same crooked smile he got when we were in the arena, the same one he used in the forest. I saw his eyes light up and he was almost finished.

"Excuse me guys," 10 pairs of eyes turned to me, "I think Gale has an idea."

Haymitch recognized Gale's smile and returned it. "I think you and I are thinking along the same lines, boy."

Gale then stood and walked to the board nailed to the wall that was used for writing. He started to draw a makeshift landscape, trees next to a river. He started drawing a complex snare, hiding it by the bushes. He turned to us, "What is one thing you need to make a good snare work?"

He looked to me, _even though you know it, don't answer._

Beetee raised his hand, "Wire, rope, an animal?"

Gale shook his head, "Anyone else?"

"You need a distraction. Something to lure the animal's attention away so it doesn't realize it's being trapped until it's in the air," Haymitch answered.

"That's right. I think we should use Posy's birthday as a way to break into the system, distract the Capitol, and break out Madge, Johanna, and Annie."

Coin and Plutarch's eyes widened in amazement. Coin spoke first, "This is a great plan. Abernathy, begin rounding up volunteers for the rescue, Beetee, start finding new ways to break in their system, because we're going to need a solid 30 minutes of an air-wave battle. Heavensbee, start letting the right people in the Capitol know what we're doing, Mellark, start baking that cake." She turned to us, "Hawthorne, Everdeen. I want the two of you to make a prepared statement for the district citizens. I'll give you a list of what all I want to go on at this party, and you two are to ensure it will happen."

"Now, all of you go. We have jobs to do: two soldiers and one innocent to bring home."


	18. Chapter 18

**Chapter 18  
Peeta  
**I was so thankful they had asked me to work on Posy's cake. Not only did I need the distraction, but I hadn't done anything really productive in a long time. Yes, I was helping bake a little in the kitchens, and yes, I had learned several knots under Finnick's instruction, but I felt as if I wasn't really _doing_ anything. Some days I would just hide out in a broom closet and wait for the pain to end. It never really did.

I sought out Haymitch, he let me vent to him about how useless I was, how nothing I did seemed to help me forget.

"Peeta, there are some things you just can't help. Why do you think I turned to this," gesturing to his glass of alcohol. "I didn't do exactly as the Capitol asked, so I got my family and my girl killed. I spent a lot of time worried about changing things that I knew I couldn't change. I sentenced a lot of kids to die just because I didn't care, and there wasn't anyone who could _make_ me care."

"So it never goes away."

"Not until you see them again."

After that conversation, I vowed to make myself more useful so I could celebrate Madge's return. We had four days until the birthday party/rescue, and I threw myself into the design of Posy's cake. Three layers, enough to feed everyone in the district, was the only requirement from the officials, so I was allowed to go crazy on whatever design Posy and I agreed on.

She came by every day after school to see how I was doing. The first day, I had mixed icings to fit Posy's description of 'the perfect pink.' Once we got that settled, she had to choose which style of writing she wanted her name, then how big, then to make sure I got the posies (the flower she was named for) right on her cake. And finally, she requested some primroses and katniss leaves.

"Posy, this is _your_ birthday. You should only get what you want."

"I know, but I really want Gale to realize how much he loves Katniss, and I want Rory to actually tell Prim he loves her too. Maybe if they see the flowers, they'll see it as a sign!"

I chuckled to myself and resolved to tell Gale so he could do something spectacular for Posy's birthday.

The day before her party, almost everything was ready. I had woven each of the flowers requested into a beautiful forest scene, complete with all the colors Posy had requested. I had even made a small icing bow upon Posy's request, I knew Katniss would smile when she saw it.

Staying true to my promise to myself, I took a break and hunted for Gale. He and Katniss had just returned from hunting and she was in the shower. I told him Posy's plan and watched the grin stretch across his face.

"Yeah, she's always really liked Katniss."

"Apparently enough to play matchmaker," I replied.

"Well, she's spot-on about Rory. He's basically obsessed with Prim."

"Gale, she's also spot-on about you. You love her. Have you told her?"

"I did, a few times. The first, I was half delirious, so I'm not sure it stuck. I tried to tell her the day of her first reaping. Didn't help. She told me she loved me the day before we went in the second arena. But she hasn't said it since."

"What do you mean, you were delirious?"

Gale ran his hands through his hair and exhaled loudly. "Do you remember when I was whipped during the week of the games?"

Of course I did. Katniss and I had been about 13 when it happened. Gale had just turned 15. "Well," he continued, "It had been her second reaping and we didn't have anything to celebrate with. For some reason, I wanted it to be special."

"We hadn't been able to sneak through the fence because it's turned on during the week of the games. But early in the morning, it was turned off, so I went looking. I took down a huge deer by myself and I was giddy. We hadn't had venison in at least a year. I was so giddy that I forgot to be careful."

"I had walked down the street to the Hob, unaware of the Peacekeepers who were standing outside. It wasn't the Peacekeepers we normally trade with. They took me to the Head Peacekeeper, Cray. Cray was good friends with Katniss and I, so he talked them down to a whipping instead of instant execution."

"It was the worst pain I've ever felt. He got 10 of the 40 lashes before they sneered and said he wasn't doing it hard enough and to start over. I passed out around the 25th lash of the second time."

"Katniss had interrupted the whipping and told them she would take the five lashes that I had left. She told them to have mercy, I was passed out from pain and it would only get worse. Cray felt sorry for her and sent me to her mother's house. Mrs. Everdeen fixed me up, but I had to lie on my stomach for almost four days before I could get up without almost passing out."

"Katniss never left my side. She stayed home through school and only left when I was asleep to hunt. Such a brave girl. She kept my family and hers fed until I could get up and walk again. One night, Mrs. Everdeen had given me painkillers and they hadn't knocked me out yet. She left Katniss and I alone so we could talk. Katniss had scolded me, saying she didn't know what she would've done if I had been executed. She also said every lash they brought on me hurt her as physically as if she had been laying there with me."

"I looked into her eyes and told her I'd be more careful because I loved her. She had smiled, kissed my cheek and told me to sleep. After that, she acted as if nothing happened, she didn't realize that I remembered it. I never brought it up because I thought it meant that she didn't love me back."

I had tears in my eyes, I was emotional lately. "Gale, trust me. You may never have the chance to show her. I know you two were very emotional right before the games, but if I know Katniss, she probably only thought you did anything just to bring her home."

"Peeta, the night before we went in the arena, I kissed her and I was sure she loved me back. But now, I don't know. She acts the same as she always has."

"Maybe it's time to bring it up."


	19. Chapter 19

**Chapter 19  
Truth**

**Gale  
**I had decided Peeta was right (and the fact that I was actually taking his advice made me cringe) and decided I should speak to her mother and Prim before I spoke to Katniss.

I went to the hospital and asked the lady at the front desk where I might find Mrs. Everdeen and Prim. She directed me to a break room and I entered the door.

"Prim, Mrs. Everdeen…can I have a word?"

Mrs. Everdeen directed me to a seat, "Yes, Gale. Please sit down." I sat, "What brings you to the hospital today? Are you okay? Where's my daughter?"

"She's fine. There's just something I wanted to talk to you about." Mrs. Everdeen mentioned for me to go on and Prim started tapping her foot in anxiety. "I love your daughter. There's just no other way to say it. She's told me she loves me back, but I don't know in exactly what way. I know that I know her the best, but I don't know her in this aspect at all. What should I do?"

Prim looked at her mother and smiled. "Gale, she loves you. Tell her how you really feel, she'll accept."

"How do you know, Prim?"

"She says your name in her sleep. I think that's a pretty good sign."

Mrs. Everdeen smiled, "You have our blessing to tell her how you feel. Now go!"

I walked up the hallway to the compartment she shared with her mother and sister. I stopped before I entered her door…she was singing. She always had the prettiest voice. I used to love listening to her sing in the woods with the mockingjays playing her song back to her.

I had heard the song before, she had sang it a long time ago. I searched my memories…

_A little girl in a new red dress hair in two braids instead of one was singing down the street beside her father. He sang a verse, and she'd finish with the chorus. _

_Are you, are you,  
coming to the tree,  
where they strung up a man they say murdered three,  
strange things did happen here,  
no stranger would it be,  
if we met at midnight in the hanging tree._

_Her mother called out angrily to the little girl for her to stop. She started crying. And I remembered the lyrics for the rest of my life._

She had reached the last stanza, where the dead man asked his love to flee life and die with him. I entered the room and sang with her. Our voices were harmonious,

_Are you, are you,  
coming to the tree,  
wear a necklace of rope, side by side with me.  
Strange things did happen here,  
no stranger would it be,  
if we met at midnight in the hanging tree._

She stopped and turned to look at me. She smiled, "How did I know that you were the one singing?"

"You just know my voice, I guess."

She softly laughed. "I was just cleaning, it's easier when I sing too."

"Your voice is beautiful, Catnip." I let the sentence hang there, unsure of what to say. I ran my hand through my hair, "Catnip…I, uh, I just need to say something. I, uh, I m-mean, you don't have to, ya know, hear it, if you don't want to.."

"Gale, what are you so nervous about? You're my best friend. You can talk to me about anything." She crossed the room and took my hand.

"Katniss, I love you. I mean, you knew that already. I really love you. You're the girl I want to be with forever. The lyrics in the song are true for me. I would rather die than spend a life without you."

Well, fuck. I didn't mean to say all of that. I saw the look on her face, eyes wide, mouth open in a small 'o.' Damn it. I turned to walk out the door, horrified that I had said so much and ruined my chance. As I turn the door knob, she caught my other hand. I turned, quickly and held my breath, bracing myself for the slap across the face I was sure to get.

But it never came.

"Gale, I love you too. I meant what I said that night before the Quell. I love you and I want to be with you forever too. Seeing Annie and Madge taken from Finnick and Peeta just makes me realize how much I want to be with you," she pulled herself in my arms. "You're my best friend. My hunting partner. My other half. Nothing is more perfect than the two of us together."

I held her tight, entranced by her words. It worked, it really worked. I pulled her chin to mine and kissed her deeply. When we broke apart, she took my hand. "C'mon Gale, it's time to wish your sister a happy birthday."

**Haymitch**  
As much as it pained me to admit it, the Hawthorne boy was a genius. He had proven this fact again and again since Katniss picked him as her partner.

The birthday party was a great thing for all of 13. People were laughing, dancing, and eating cake. I even got a bottle of liquor. It was exactly what Plutarch wanted.

The actual plan was to tape the entire party tonight, have Plutarch and his team go over the footage tomorrow, get a propo together, and send in the rescue squad tomorrow evening. Somehow, Beetee had hacked into the Capitol's files and told us that there was to be a big interview of some sort that was required viewing. Excellent.

Beetee also figured he could battle with them for control of the airwaves for a good 30 minutes. Excellent. It would give us enough time to get those three women out of there.

I gave up on military strategy and focused on the party in front of me. The five year old was absolutely giddy. She thought everyone there was gathered just because she asked nicely. Hazelle had been working on making a dress for the girl all week, and the girl was parading around in it, showing it off to anyone who would listen to her for more than five seconds.

She caught my eye. Posy and I hadn't exactly gotten off to a good start. When discussing the party plans, her name was Little Bit, and she hated it. She had gotten so mad at me that she called me Mr. Meany Head. Wasn't the worst thing I've ever been called, but I knew it was a sore insult from a five year old.

"Hey there, Little Bit. Enjoying your party?"

"Actually, I am, Mr. Meany Head!" She stuck her tongue out to me. And I stuck mine back out at her. We stayed that way and made faces at each other until I finally let her win. She pranced off to tell her brother how she bested Mr. Meany Head. I figured I should let her have at least one win, since it was her birthday and all.

But she didn't find her eldest brother, and once I started looking around, Katniss was missing too. Figures. You set up two kids like that and they start missing children's birthday parties. I shrugged and sipped my glass of white wine.

No sooner had I finished my glass and joined the hunt for the two of them, they came down the stairs into the cafeteria. Katniss had on a bright blue dress and her hair was up in some kind of braid/bun thingy. Gale was beside her and holding her hand. Neither looked flustered or embarrassed, so I guessed they hadn't been doing anything they shouldn't.

Once Posy saw Gale, she ran and bounded up in his arms, begging him to tell her mother they were ready to see her cake and blow out candles. Hazelle gave her blessing, looked to Plutarch to make sure the cameras were ready, and someone yelled to Peeta that it was time.

The cake really was beautiful. Peeta had spent entirely too much time trying to appease a five year old, but it really showed in Posy's face. She was ecstatic that someone had _finally_ spent time on her rather than her brothers. She squealed in delight and clapped her hands and finally jumped from Gale's arms and ran to Peeta. She kissed him on the cheek and said she loved him.

With Posy on one hip, Peeta lit the candles and started to sing happy birthday to her. Little Bit blew out the candles and demanded that everyone have a piece before she did.

Unselfish little thing, she was. She asked for a big piece and handed it to me, "Mr. Meany Head, I'm sowwie I was mean. Forgib me?"

I rustled her hair, "Of course, Little Bit. But it's our secret. We still have to be mean in public for appearance's sake." I winked at the end of my sentence. She giggled and ran back to get her own piece and to tell everyone thank you.

After everyone had been satisfied on Peeta's cake, the dancing began. Since district 12 is such a poor place, we don't really get excited about anything. We have our simple toasting in the place of a wedding, we have people over for a birthday dinner…nothing we do is like the Capitol. But the one thing we do know how to do is dance and play instruments. And I am a champ at the fiddle.

I had grabbed it from its secret box in my room just for this occasion. I yelled to Katniss and Gale the name of the reel I was about to play and started sawing. Katniss's face lit up as she grabbed Gale and began the steps. Soon, another man from twelve had grabbed a washboard, another a set of bells, and one more had something similar to a drum.

We played and played till our fingers were sore. The citizens of 12 taught the citizens of 13 how to dance, and dance we did. Plutarch was smiling the whole night, getting the exact footage he wanted. I had taken a break from the fiddle, handing it off to someone from 13 who knew how to play.

Little Bit approached me, "You haven't danced yet!"

"No, Posy. I don't dance," I informed her.

"Pweeeeease! Dance with me, just this once!"

I laughed, who can resist the charms of a five year old?


	20. Chapter 20

**Chapter 20  
Distraction**

**Katniss  
**the party had been a hit. Everyone danced, including Haymitch, the cake was completely gone, and Plutarch had gotten what was needed for the propos.

The camera crew had until 1800 that night to get what was needed together so Beetee could create the distraction. The volunteer crew was leaving at 1200 the next morning, arriving in the Capitol by 1730. I was nervous, Gale's hand was the first to go up when they asked for volunteers.

_Because Gale had been facing death yet again, I had asked him to stay with me while Mom and Prim were at the hospital. I knew neither of us would be able to sleep if we were apart. _

_He had come with me through the hallways to our compartment and snuggled in bed with me. His light and sure fingers traced patterns on my arm and cheek as we just sat and talked. _

_His outburst yesterday had caught me a little off guard, but it wasn't anything I wasn't expecting. Gale and I had been spending most of our time together, and it was only a matter of time until we realized what we really were. Gale was the one with the experience, so I knew it would come to him telling me whether we were just friends or if he felt something more. I had no idea he had already made up his mind that I was 'the one.' I knew he was for me, I just didn't have the courage to outright tell him. _

_He and I lay in the darkness, asking each other questions that we hadn't been able to voice before. He had turned it into a game to play until we were so sleepy that we wouldn't have any dreams. "Catnip, since we're not technically in Panem anymore, do you ever see yourself married or with children?"_

_I sighed, it was a question I had been turning over in my mind, one I knew he would ask sooner or later. I decided to answer honestly, "I still don't know what kind of mother I would be, but if you were the one I spent my life with…I think I could easily see us with children."_

_I felt his body tense up next to mine. He pulled my face to his, he kissed me passionately, his hands feeling up and down the length of my body. He pulled away, breath ragged and rushed. He spoke huskily, "I have been waiting years to hear you say that to me."_

_"I love you, Gale."_

_"I love you too." Apparently, he had heard something he had been waiting for, because he got out of the bed and dropped to a knee on the floor. "Catnip, I've been waiting a long time to be this sure of someone. I love you and I will forever. Whether you say yes or you say no, I won't tell anyone either way. But you should know that I will never stop trying for you. Will you marry me, Katniss?" he pulled out a box containing my mother's engagement ring. I gasped, I couldn't believe what I was seeing._

_"Say yes. I can make you happier than you ever have been. I can provide for you, surely you've noticed these last five years? I can be your husband, I can love you every day for the rest of your life. I can father our children and raise them beside us. But I can't be any of those things without you."_

_I nodded my head, unable to speak as he slipped the ring on my finger. He kissed me deeply once again. We giggled to ourselves all night, barely able to sleep, unable to contain our excitement at the realization that we would belong to each other forever._

I smiled at the memory and looked down at my left hand. I couldn't wait to tell my mother, but that would have to wait. Gale and I agreed if he didn't come back on this mission, I wouldn't tell anybody. I didn't know why, other than I just didn't want a camera in my face asking how it felt to lose not one, but _two_ fiancées.

Having about two hours before they left, the team was still getting briefed on the mission. Haymitch, Finnick, Gale, Boggs, Beetee, Plutarch and several others were all in on the meeting. Peeta and I had opted to stay behind, firstly because it wasn't safe for all of us to be together, and secondly in case Beetee needed us to go to a live feed or something.

After the squad took off with a goodbye kiss from Gale and a big hug from Finnick, there wasn't anything to do but wait. I was as nervous as Peeta, and we occupied ourselves tying knots or just pacing. We read books to each other, colored with Posy, and finally tried sleeping.

Nothing helped.

At 1730 hours, Haymitch's voice came over the loud speaker in the control room, "Base, this is bird number 4-1-0-3. We have landed and are getting ready for pick up. Ready on that end? Over."

Coin pointed her fingers at Beetee, who gave her the thumbs up. She pointed at Plutarch, "Everyone who needs to know in the capitol knows, ma'am."

"Okay then." She pressed the button on her headset, "4-1-0-3, this is base. Everything is a go, I repeat, everything is a go. You may proceed."

Everyone pulled a chair in front of the big television and watched Beetee go at it with the Capitol.

**Peeta**  
As the television turned on, I grasped Katniss's hand. Not as a form of endearment, but because if I didn't have something to squeeze, I'd start screaming. She smiled at me and firmly squeezed.

The Capitol seal was the first thing on the TV, followed by Caesar Flickerman and a doctor, who Plutarch explained was one of the rebels. "So Dr. Mallory, you are a medical Ph.D. And we know you have some opinions on the rebels and how they're going about this war. Tell us."

"Well Caesar," the doctor was shaking, the poor guy was nervous. "This loss of life is ridiculous. The rebels should just cease-fire. There will be too many casualties. And we know the rebel side is experiencing extreme loss of life and can hardly gather the supplies to fight us now."

"NOW, BEETEE!" Coin yelled.

And with the flip of a switch, the television in front of us showed Posy's birthday. The video showed me, smiling and pointing to the cake, showing that I made it. The camera turned to Haymitch dancing with Posy around and around the floor. Everyone was so _happy._ You could easily see the effect 13 had on every person in the room.

The screen flickered and we were back to a very flustered Caesar, he tried to ignore the break in the broadcast. "Well, doctor, what did you think of the games this year? With the breakout?"

"The rebels completely ruined everything. It was to be a fantastic games and they ruined it, just as they have ruined this country, just as they have ruined themselves." The doctor's words were like that of a robot; he was reading a script.

Beetee got control once again, this time showing Katniss and Gale, with Posy in his arms. If someone didn't know that was Gale's sister, one could easily think Katniss and Gale had started a family. i smiled as I realized that was the point. We wanted everyone to see how happy Katniss was with Gale now, how happy we were. That we didn't ruin ourselves. We had hope.

The scene showed Katniss and Gale dancing among the people of 13. She looked into his eyes and everyone could see the obvious love that was there, Gale leaned down to kiss her, like she was the only thing that mattered in the chaos of the party. Everyone in our room, except Coin, said "awwww." Katniss blushed and looked down at the ring in her hand.

_A ring_? I didn't want to embarrass her, but I made a mental note to ask about that later.

For the next 20 minutes, Beetee went at war with the Capitol. He'd let them have control for about a minute before he came back with a ready propo of his own. Most of them were of the party, but a couple were some Gale and Katniss had filmed together. The last one was one Katniss had filmed herself a few weeks ago on a trip to district 8.

I got goosebumps on my arms as Katniss looked directly into the camera, into the soul of every single person in Panem and said, "Fire is catching…if we burn, then you burn with us!"

"That's all I got," Beetee threw up his hands. "If they aren't out by now, they'll never get out."

I grabbed Katniss's hand and held my breath. She was just as nervous as I was.


	21. Chapter 21

**A/N:** Okay, guys. since my computer crashed, i'm having to rewrite everything from scratch. so that's why i'm only updating as often as i am. trust me, i wouldn't leave you guys hanging if i didn't have to.

So keep reviewing and let me know what you think. you guys rock :)

* * *

**Chapter 21**

**Gale**  
All I could see was black. I kept trying to open my eyes, thinking I had them closed on accident. I could only see black.

I tried to search back through my memory, _how did I get here?_

I remembered being on the hovercraft and landing in the Capitol. I remember finding Johanna, Annie, and Madge. I remember getting them back on the hovercraft, and being the last one, and getting ready to close the door. Then…black.

I search even harder through the memories…but I find nothing. Instead, the black starts to lighten. I can feel pressure on my hand, an angel's voice calling to me. "Gale, Gale honey can you hear me?"

I grunt, and I feel immediate pain in my abdomen. The angel is calling me back from the darkness, "Gale. Stop thinking. You were shot."

At this, I open my eyes. Light floods me, I get my bearings and realize I'm in a hospital room, Katniss is at my bedside, eyes wide with fear. I started to open my mouth, it fucking hurt.

It was a damn good thing we could read each other so clearly. Katniss saw my face, she looked to Haymitch and he nodded before she answered me.

"On your way out, you made sure the girls were in the hovercraft before you were. It was really noble of you. But a man stepped out from behind a building and shot you three times. Once in the chest, once in your lower abdomen and once through your left shoulder. He narrowly missed your heart." She handed me a pen and paper, "the doctors don't want you to speak for a few days at the least."

I smiled as I took the pad from her, I scribbled a sentence that I knew would make her blush. I gave her back the notepad and sure enough, she turned deep red.

_They couldn't have shot my heart. I left it here with me._

I smiled, and knew I'd be in good hands until I was healed.

Her mother came by periodically to check my bandages and things. I had worn one of Cinna's bulletproof vests, unfortunately, they only covered the chest, leaving the stomach, arms, legs, and head open for business.

I discovered the first bullet just left a huge bruise right where my diaphragm would be, which is why they didn't want me speaking. The one through my lower abdomen just clipped me and needed bandages. But the one through the shoulder was what would cause me the most pain and the most therapy.

Katniss didn't leave me unless I made her, which I did for her own good. Her schedule had been changed where she only had to leave me for two hours at a time, but it still made her sick to not be able to interpret my emotions and tell people what I needed. The only part I liked about her being gone was that no one could tell the nurses how much pain I was in.

Everyone came to visit every so often. My mother, brothers and sister coming in second only to Katniss. She still had the ring on her hand, so I figured she could tell everybody now that they knew I was going to make it. Her mother and sister, of course, already knew. But my mother just smiled and smiled, handing me my father's ring. Said it would come in handy if we had a toasting soon.

Posy was thrilled that Katniss and I were officially together. She had considered herself a matchmaker and her newest project was Rory and Prim. She sat on my bed and would go on for hours upon hours about them. One night, she was telling us about something Rory had said to Prim at lunch, and I shot a look at Katniss to interrupt.

"Pose, Gale wants to know if _you_ have a boyfriend."

My mouth hung open, that was most definitely _not_ what I had wanted to know. Katniss looked back at me and stuck out her tongue, _stay calm. I got this._

Posy thought hard about whether she wanted to tell me or not, "Actually. I do." She stuck out her chest, proud of herself on such an accomplishment for a five year old. "I met him at school and his name is Curry Mellark!" I laughed, and quickly regretted it. It just had to be Peeta's cousin. I settled for rolling my eyes instead.

Haymitch stopped by during the hours Katniss had training. He would discuss strategy, which was hard since I couldn't actively speak yet, what had happened, what they were using against the Capitol, and our three rescued women. Apparently, the status of each of them was so bad that only the need-to-know people knew about it. I didn't realize I was one of those people, but Haymitch told me what was going on anyway.

Apparently, they knew from the beginning that Annie knew nothing. They just held her and malnourished her to have something to use against Finnick. I spit, it was just Capitol bullshit to hold someone as delicate as her so she could talk. Haymitch had just shrugged and said Annie was on the mend, Finnick had even been in to see her so he could explain what was going on.

Johanna was quite the opposite. They knew that she held valuable information, and they tried to torture it out of her. She knew most of our secrets, but Haymitch said that she didn't give up any of them. The only thing she gave up was that we were vulnerable in the case of a bombing. I snorted, and my hands quickly covered my chest. Damn it to hell, that really hurts.

Haymitch smiled, "They bought it too. Coin's ordered that everyone just move down compartments to be on the safe side. But they're basically going to waste their time unless they try to nuke us. Which we don't think they'll do because they think it'll be easy to pick us off with regular bombs."

I grabbed my pen and paper,

_What about Madge? Did she know anything?_

Haymitch's eyes narrowed at my question. "Boy, Katniss and Peeta don't know any of what I'm about to tell you. Peeta has been back to see her once, and she was unconscious. But what we're worried about is how malnourished she was… she was also six weeks pregnant."

I started to get angry. My scribbling became less and less legible.

_Rape?! BASTARDS. does madge know?_

"Yes, boy. We think they raped her as a torture until they realized she didn't know anything. Then they tried malnourishing her to get rid of the evidence. And yes, Madge knows. But she's decided she wants to tell him herself. And that's how it's going to stay. You can tell Katniss, it'll be better coming from you anyway, but if she tells Peeta, I'll come down here and shoot you point-blank myself. Understood?"

Wow, Haymitch sure had venom in his voice when he wanted it. I nodded and wrote for him to tell Katniss I needed her whenever she was done with training.

**Madge  
**Six weeks. Six of forty, almost seven. I could already tell that I had gained a little weight from this kid, but most of my days were spent trying to sleep or trying to forget where I was, so I hadn't given it much thought.

Now I was back in 13, safe and sound. My parents were dead, my boyfriend didn't know anything about my condition, and all anyone could do these days was feel sorry for me. "Poor little Madge. Got involved with the wrong side and now she's raped, knocked up, and confused."

Confused. They had sent that nice doctor back here to talk to me about my "condition" and make sure I was mentally healthy. He knew as well as I did that I was a changed woman.

But Peeta didn't. and that pained me to know that the only guy I'd ever possibly loved didn't know the secret that was haunting me. For some reason, I just kept putting off telling him. I knew eventually I wouldn't be able to hide it, but I just felt like he'd abandon me if I told him.

The doctor had told me that part of the reason I was depressed was because I couldn't face my fears. I couldn't really own up to the baby and the fact that Peeta may not like it. He encouraged me to get out there and do what I had to do. Otherwise, the nightmares wouldn't stop.

So two days after he gave me his advice, I called Peeta down to my room. He practically skipped down the hallway. He kissed me on the cheek and began filling me in on everything that had happened. Posy's birthday party, Gale and Katniss's engagement, Annie and Finnick, it was all almost too much.

"Peeta, I need to talk to you about something important. I will be able to understand if you don't want to be with me anymore after I tell you." He nodded and I continued with the story.

I told him of the repeated rape. The sneers from the guards as they followed the orders Snow gave them, how they laughed at me crying and begging for them to stop. How they took my innocence and made me a would-be mother. I told him of Johanna in the cell next to me, screaming and cursing and begging them to stop hurting me…and I told him I'd never forget the beatings she took so they would stop hurting me.

I told him of them stopping my food and water because they found out I was pregnant. They figured killing me was the right thing to do since they had ruined my life. I told him how Johanna always saved half of her bread and water to give to me after the guards went to sleep for the night.

When I finished, Peeta just sat there, holding my hand. He didn't have a look of disgust, nor did he have a happy look. He just sat and muddled over everything I said.

I hadn't realized I was crying, but he did. He jerked up his head and wiped the tears from my eyes, tenderly kissing my swollen lips from the beatings I got. His eyes seemed to light up as he patted my stomach. "Well you know what this means, don't you?" I shook my head, "this means we're going to be a family."


	22. Chapter 22

**Chapter 22  
Johanna  
**The days went by, and I spent most of them by myself. I had a few visitors here and there, but for the most part, everyone got on my nerves.

Katniss would come every day after her training, and most days she would just sit and hold my hand without saying anything. It was nice, I was tired of people demanding me to talk. She had brought me pine needles from the forest and I used the smell to help me fall asleep.

Damn, I missed home.

Haymitch would come by every other day. He knew his presence got on my fucking nerves, so he'd come by, talk about what was going on, then he'd leave. I guess I should've been more thankful that someone was giving me news, but I really didn't care how the stupid war was going as long as Snow got to die.

Everyone else was in much better shape than I was, so they all came down to visit occasionally. I just brought back bad memories for Annie, so she only came once and Finnick would come alone. It was okay, Finnick was the closest thing to a best friend that I had. He was the only person I would talk to about what happened.

When Gale started walking and talking, he came down too. I thanked him for saving my life, because if he hadn't caught all 3 of those bullets, they would've gotten me in critical areas. He sneered and told me that as long as I didn't tell anybody, we were even. He wasn't as easy to talk to, but he didn't press me like Finnick did. He only talked about what happened if I volunteered information, and nothing I said surprised him. I didn't know if that was from living in 12 all these years, or because he already knew my woes. Not that I cared.

He had asked me what the hardest part of it all was. I had to think in silence for several minutes before I could answer. "The hardest part was having to sit there and do _nothing._ I'll never forget Madge screaming for me to help her. So I did the only thing I could do: I called those bastards every name I could think of to get their attention. When they came in, I'd fight back long enough that they'd get bored and go to the surface."

I continued, "it was better when they started starving her. I gave her half my food and water every day—it just felt like I was doing _something._ But when they showed that propo of Posy's birthday, Annie started laughing, but I listened for Madge and she was crying. Whether they were happy or sad tears, I'll never know. That was the hardest part."

Gale never asked me another question about my time as a prisoner.

Instead, he would talk to me about Katniss. I knew he loved her-anyone with eyes could tell. His problem was all the experience he'd ever had with women was in the saddle. He knew how to pleasure a woman, but Katniss wasn't going to give in easily, she wanted to wait till they were married. No, Gale's problem was timing. He had already asked Katniss to marry him and she'd agreed. He wanted to be married so badly, and not for the physical reasons. Gale wanted to marry her because he _loved_ her.

"I just feel like i'd be pushing her to move too fast. I know how her mind works, she'll take it as a publicity stunt and that isn't what it is at all." He ran his hand through his hair (even i had to admit that it was attractive), "I truly love her. I want her forever."

"Well you know what to do then, don't you, brainless?" He shook his head, "Marry her in secret. That way the two of you will know, and she'll know you're not doing it for the cameras."

His eyes brightened more than they had since we were in the arena, my words hit hard and the gears in his head were working to an idea. He then smiled that crazy crooked smile i had seen in the arena. "Damn it, Gale. Don't be stupid."

Haymitch kept me updated on what was going on, and it was better news than I'd gotten in a long time. They'd shown me the propo Katniss had made while she was in district 8 that showed the night they rescued us. It had put chills down the spine of every person who saw it.

Because of that, the rebellion efforts in every district except 2 had doubled. 2, which was the home of military defense and Peacekeepers, was the only district that hadn't been taken by rebel forces yet. They wanted to send Katniss there, and for some stupid reason, Haymitch had sought my advice.

"Well, Mason. Coin wants to send her, but I don't think she'll go without Hawthorne."

"Of course not. She may be brainless, but she isn't stupid. Gale's the only person she really trusts to have her back." Haymitch chewed over my words and I continued, "Plus, with this whole engagement thing, you're better off sending them together anyway. Plutarch will have oodles and oodles of fun filming them."

Katniss would kick my ass if she knew I was convincing them to try the 'star-crossed lovers' act. But Haymitch just smiled, "You know, Mason. You're an alright kid." I smiled and brought the conversation to a place that I _knew_ Katniss would shoot me over.

"You could use Madge's kid too, for the propos, I mean. Show the people just how evil the Capitol is. Didn't Gale want to use poor little Madge in the games as a backfire?"

Haymitch smiled crookedly. "I guess I'll just have to go ask her then."

**Katniss  
**Having training every day was really a blessing in disguise. It gave me the option to work out my frustrations with life somewhere that Gale couldn't watch. It really hurt me to leave him every day—I hated having anyone out of my sight these days—but I knew it was for the best.

After four weeks, they had let him out of the hospital and he had started training too. Not with me, at first, but some therapy for his shoulder and to make sure his wounds were healing. I was training in physical hand-to-hand combat, which was something I had never been very good at. Gale had encouraged it, he said it would come down to something like this when we stormed the Capitol. He had just two weeks to get in military shape before we headed to 2.

But I knew something he didn't: it didn't matter if he was in the right shape or not, he was going. I didn't trust anyone else and I didn't want to be away from him. Either the two of us would go, or they'd have to find themselves another Mockingjay, which would be hard this late in the game.

I hit away at the punching dummy for my warm up. I was going really good and working up a sweat until Haymitch came through the door. He'd been working on some kind of propo project with Madge, Johanna, and Finnick. He hadn't told me what it was about, but I was sure I'd see it sooner or later, so I didn't question.

"Think you've beat the hell out of that dummy yet, sweetheart?"

"It's not bleeding, so I guess not. What's up? You never come down here for training."

"That's because your training session is over for today. They changed the schedule for you and your boyfriend. The two of you are to find Peeta and report to command ASAP." He turned to leave.

"Haymitch. What's going on?"

He smiled a dark smile, "Another hit on the Capitol, sweetheart. What else did you expect?"

He quickly left, leaving me to my confusion. I gathered my things, skipped my shower, and headed down to Gale's apartment. I explained what was going on as we walked the short hallway to Peeta's.

I knocked on the door and he answered, very drunk. I shook my head angrily. "Peeta, what the hell are you doing?"

He was slurring his words, and I noticed an empty bottle of liquor halfway hidden under his bed. I swore at the same time Gale did, and we looked to each other and smiled before Peeta fell in Gale's arms.

"Damn that Haymitch. Why would you give Peeta a drink, even if he does need it more than any of us. Damn him."

"Gale, I need you to give him a shower. Haymitch wanted him at this meeting, so who are we to disobey orders?" I grinned, "Haymitch will just have to deal with this drunken monster he's created."

Gale didn't return my smile. He helped Peeta to the shower before turning back to me, "Whatever they've called us for is important. Let's hope he sobers up enough to understand what's going on."


	23. Chapter 23

**A/N: **Hey guys! Got another chapter today, and i'm pretty proud of this one.  
i know i'm hurrying the plot a little bit, but i have more important things i want to get to! This chapter has a little bit of lemons, but it's not too graphic, so no need for the queasy people to skip.

Also, i'm starting another Galeniss story called Family is Everything, in case you wanna check it out.

Please keep reviewing! thank you guys :)

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**Chapter 23**  
**Katniss**  
We cleaned Peeta up and took him downstairs. Haymitch had to fight to contain his grin, smug bastard. I really hate him sometimes.

Gale set Peeta down in his chair and shot a dirty look at Haymitch. The look in his eyes said the same thing I'd been thinking. _Smug bastard._

He then looked to Coin, "Okay. We're all here. What's so important?"

She simply directed us to our seats and pressed a button to turn on the television. The scene before us was a simple interview room. A somber looking Finnick and a very beat up Madge sat in the two chairs across from an interviewer that I didn't recognize.

The interviewer introduced them both and turned to Madge, "Before we get started, would you like to tell the audience what happened to you?"

Madge began her tale. Upon Haymitch's suggestion, she didn't leave anything out. She told the people of her involvement from the announcement of the Quarter Quell, and the plan to break out Gale, Peeta, and I. The only thing she didn't disclose was exactly how many people had been involved. I breathed easy when she left out Cinna's name. Although he was laying low for a few months, he was planned to break out to 2 whenever we went there in a couple weeks.

She told of her feelings for Peeta, how they were growing under the circumstances. she then started to cry as she talked about her capture. Finnick grabbed her hand in a comforting way and I noticed he was crying too. She told the audience of Johanna's generosity that saved her—who knows where she would be if it hadn't been for her.

She also told the people of Panem she was pregnant with an unknown Peacekeeper's child. She almost spoke bitterly of having the chance at a normal motherhood taken from her. "But I will regard this as what it is: a blessing. The Capitol only seeks to destroy the people who want a fair chance at life. In their quest to destroy, they don't realize that they cause us to grow stronger. By taking my choices and making me a mother, they sought to break my will, but instead, I have gained the strength necessary to protect my child from the government that wants to take it away!"

I didn't realize until Gale wrapped his arms around me that I had been crying too. "See what you've started?" He whispered in my ear, "This is all because you took a stand against someone just so they didn't have the satisfaction of entertainment. I love you."

While Madge's story was to evoke sympathy and sorrow from the Capitol's people, Finnick's story was to piss them off.

"As you know, when I won my games, I was 14 years old. On my 16th birthday, I was taken to the Capitol to speak to President Snow himself. I thought it would be congratulations or something, but no. the President wanted to offer me a job, and it wasn't the type of job I could say no to."

"He told me that I was to become a sex slave for the Capitol, to keep the people happy. I would be assigned a manager and I would have to go—anytime or any place. I tried to refuse the request, I believed in the power of love and to save myself for love. But the President threatened to kill all of those I loved if I didn't comply."

"It only got worse after Annie won her games. I loved her, and Snow knew that, so he used her against me to get me more and more..appointments with the ladies of the Capitol." I became terrified of the venom in Finnick's eyes, "But these ladies did not pay me in gold, I couldn't take their dirty money. Instead, they paid me in secrets."

"Secrets of hundreds of men and women officials deep within the ranks of the Capitol. Drunken musings spilled on a pillow for me to hear. So now, Panem. These are the secrets of the people you trust."

And Finnick told them all. Poisons made to look like sickness, accidents for unfavorable people, mining accidents to crush uprisings.

The last one took the breath away from both Gale and I. We looked to each other and looked back to the screen.

"The first of these 'accidents' happened just after my games. They took the lives of miners in District 12 who were hoping to have an uprising. Snow found out and killed them all. Two of those men were the fathers of Katniss Everdeen and Gale Hawthorne. If only the President knew that killing those two men would fuel the passion and hatred for the Capitol that Mr. Hawthorne has. If only he knew that killing her father would result in Katniss going to the woods and learning to provide for her family, which was what won her games."

"If only the President knew how much these 'accidents' and killing of innocents would piss of every, single, rebel. Everyone who is fighting for the cause has a direct reason to hate the Capitol. Whether it be these accidents, forced motherhood, prostitution, or the hunger games themselves. So President Snow, I just want you to take into account how many people you have pissed off. Because they will _all_ turn on you."

"As Miss Everdeen said, the fire is catching. So you better be prepared to burn."

With that, the screen went blank, and the entire room exhaled, no one making a sound. I turned to Gale, who had tears in his eyes. All these years with his rantings about the Capitol, and he had been right all along.

And, I thought, it was the Capitol who created our friendship without meaning to. It was the Capitol's misguided intentions that caused us to rebel. I smiled at Gale, fueled with a new passion for the fires of the rebellion. We could do it, and we could win.

Coin spoke first, "I think it should come to a vote of whether we want to wait two weeks to send in the Mockingjay or if we would like to do it sooner. Obviously, this new information is going to spark something in district 2 and the Capitol." Heads nodded around the table. "Okay then. Let's vote. All in favor of going in as soon as possible?" 24 'aye's chorused throughout the room. A unanimous vote. "Very well then. We leave at 0600 in two days' time."

Coin released us to our rooms. "Hawthorne, Everdeen. Am I to presume that neither of you will go without the other?"

We looked to each other and spoke in synchronization, "Yes ma'am."

"Very well then. We have Mr. Hawthorne's suit from Cinna, the one you wore to the Capitol. It will be waiting in your room, same for you Miss Everdeen. You're dismissed."

Gale and I walked on to my compartment. My mother and sister were at the hospital, as usual. There was a note on the dresser to not expect them until the following dawn at the earliest. I sat down on the bed and looked at Gale, "I'm so glad they finally realized that you're going with me."

He smiled and ran his hand through his hair. "Catnip, I need to talk to you about something serious."

"Gale, you know you can talk to me about anything. What's wrong?"

He sat down and motioned for me to sit on his lap. "I love you, and you know that. I want to marry you, and I gave you the ring to prove it. I want to be bound to you, to be able to call you my wife. I don't want time to slip away before we can do that." He held me close as he talked.

"Well what do you suppose we do?"

"Catnip, let's have our own toasting. We can do it by ourselves and we'll feel as married as we would be in any other ceremony. We don't have to tell anyone if you don't want to," He started to stumble over his words, clearly nervous. "I just want to give you my last name. Even if it's just between us. If you aren't ready, I understand. But I know I'll never feel this way about anyone else. And I want you to have this piece of each other in case… in case…one of us d-d-doesn't make it b-back…"

I interrupted him and kissed him fiercely. "Okay, Gale. We can by ourselves. All I want is you, and that is enough for me."

So he went to his compartment to fetch his father's ring while I changed into a nicer dress. I reached into a drawer looking for something flattering when I found the lace bra and matching underwear.

I giggled to myself before blushing. It seemed Cinna had thought of everything after all. I quickly changed.

Gale came back with a loaf of bread in his hands and we held it over the fire. We made our vows on the spot and they were so beautiful.

Gale took my hand and placed my mother's ring on it, "Catnip. I love you with all of my heart. I told you I would wait for you no matter how long it took, and I always will. I said I would love you no matter what, to the ends of the earth and no matter what hell of a war we have to go through to find each other. I love you and I will always love you. Katniss, you've been my best friend for such a long time, you complete me, body, soul, and mind. You're my best friend, hunting partner, lover, and soul mate. For always."

He smiled and kissed my cheek. I put his father's ring on his hand and looked into his eyes, "Gale Hawthorne. You are the only person I have ever really been myself around, you're a great provider for your family and I am honored to share your last name. my life and yours are one in the same now, and I can't imagine what my life would look like if I hadn't stopped to see your snare that day. I've known for a long time that you complete me as a hunter, but recently I have realized that you complete me as a person too. If we are separated, I will never stop searching for you. I love you, Gale. For always."

With that, we fed each other our toasted bread and sealed the union with a kiss.

We were married.

**Gale  
**I couldn't explain how happy I was to hear Katniss finally say those words to me. She was finally mine, and although it was a secret, I didn't really care who knew it. For all purposes we were concerned with, we were husband and wife, no war or piece of paper could change that. Since our engagement had become final, we had been spending most nights together, but there was just something missing.

I was no romantic, but I dreamed of having her as mine, my partner in all life had to throw at us. We kind of were anyway, but I wanted it to be official. I had meant every word I had said to Johanna, I loved Katniss and I would never love another. That much was certain.

Since the meeting had started after supper and had taken a good three hours, with our ceremony taking a half hour, it was nearing 2200. I gently took her hand and led her to the bed. She froze, uncertain.

"Catnip, I understand if you aren't ready. I can wait until you are. I just want to hold you tonight."

She brushed her hair out of her eyes and looked up to me, _that's not it_.

I laughed and ran my hands through my hair, "Then what is it, Catnip?"

She laughed shakily, "Gale, I'm n-nervous. I've n-never d-done anything with…with a boy…"

Wait a second. She was nervous because she was afraid she couldn't please me? I laughed again before pulling her face to mine in a passionate kiss. I pulled away and stared straight into her eyes. "Catnip, that right there pleased me more than anything I've ever done with a woman. Anything you do to add to that will only amount to the greatest experience of my life. If you aren't ready, I understand. But don't be worried about not pleasing me." I scoffed, "I am a 19 year old man after all."

She nodded and kissed me. This kiss was so much different because she was unafraid. She reached for the buttons on my shirt and opened it to reveal my bare chest. She stopped kissing me and ran her hands over it with a light-as-a-feather touch. She kissed the bare skin of my neck and laughed when I stifled a moan. I shook off my shirt and began to reach for her dress. I slipped it off of her and took in the sight of Katniss in just her undergarments.

She was so beautiful; it could break a man's heart. The lace perfectly framed her body as if it were made for her—which it probably was. The matching pieces outlined her curves and made me stand on end. I shucked off my pants unable to stand not being close to her anymore, scooped her up, and laid her on the bed.

We made love until the early hours of the morning, and then we quickly dressed in case we were caught. She stayed in my arms and we just laughed and giggled at each other. I had never been more content or happy with another human being or at any other point in my life.

Katniss was mine, and I was hers. Anything else was unthinkable.


	24. Chapter 24

**Chapter 24  
Peeta  
**When I woke, I was in my bed. My head throbbed as I tried to remember how I'd gotten here. No memories resurfaced.

I tried Haymitch's routine of remembering the last thing that happened and trying to piece together the blank spots from that.

_Haymitch had come to my room and said he'd wanted to talk. I invited him in and noticed he was carrying two bottles of white liquor. Damn that Ripper, giving him what he doesn't need._

_He sat at the desk and I sat at the bed. He had taken two swigs of his bottle before addressing me. "Kid, do you really think you're ready to be a father?"_

_"Absolutely. Madge doesn't need to go through this alone… and I love her."_

_He scoffed and took another drink. "Love is a made-up emotion used to justify the stupid things people do."_

_"That isn't true, Haymitch. Love is real. And I've found it with her. I want to give her the best of everything." I reached to take his bottle from him, "Why do you drink this stuff all the time anyway? It doesn't make your problems go away."_

_"That's just what you think, kid," he sneered. "You're just now starting to get problems that could cause a man to drink." _

_He stopped taking drinks and looked me right in the eye, "Kid. Can you really look back and say that you handled your problems the best you could?"_

_I thought about it long and hard… "No, I didn't." I sat down, overcome by the grief of the situation I was taking on, "In fact, I'm not even sure how I'm going to handle this one. I'm sure I can support Madge and her baby, but I have no idea what kind of father I can be. I'm not… I'm not.." I had to force myself to spit his name out, "I'm not Gale. I don't have any experience with children."_

_I looked into the smiling face of my mentor as I reached for drink, somehow thinking it could give me the answers._

I wanted to punch myself. Lots of people are made parents without any warning, that doesn't mean I couldn't handle it. Why would I take a drink from Haymitch anyway? It was definitely out of character for me.

I paused before getting up. It was weird that I couldn't remember finishing drinking, although the half empty bottle was sitting on my nightstand.

And, I was in different clothes than when I started…also weird. I made a mental note to ask someone how the hell I'd gotten a shower and tucked into my bed last night.

I looked at my watch, it was only 0800. I still had time for breakfast. I showered quickly, dressed, and headed down the hall to the kitchen. I got my food and found Gale and Katniss sitting with Johanna, Finnick, Annie, and the other Hawthorne kids. I waved to them all and sat across Johanna and began eating.

I looked up to see Katniss blushing at Gale, I started to think I had missed a joke when Johanna started laughing at me. It was nice to know that her sense of humor hadn't been touched by the Capitol.

I smiled with a mouthful of food and slurred, "Wassso funny guys?"

"Well, brainless. Katniss here was just retelling us how you were too drunk to clothe yourself in time to see Madge's broadcast. And Gale was mentioning how it's unlikely that you even remember it."

I blushed and looked at Katniss, she avoided my stare, so I knew it was true.

"Ah, I was wondering who showered me last night."

Gale chuckled and lightened the mood, "It wasn't as if it was easy. God only help you if Haymitch had been the one to find you."

"Haymitch would've definitely left him," Finnick chimed in.

After that, lunch was spent catching me up on what had happened while I blacked out. Katniss, Finnick, Gale, and Johanna were heading out in the morning to district 2 to join the forces and somehow rally the people. Finnick told me that Coin had decided since I wasn't a very good soldier, the choice of me going was left to me. It was actually the first time in over a year that someone let me make my own decision.

Johanna even offered to take me to a control room to watch the propo. I took her offer and followed her out.

"Johanna, is Madge okay?"

"Glad you finally asked. You're almost as brainless as Katniss sometimes. Yeah, she's okay. I went to her room this morning. She just isn't ready to face a room full of people staring at her. Finnick can, but he's used to it."

"I should probably go to her, shouldn't i?"

"Yeah, and you should probably explain why you got rip-roaring drunk last night."

I felt the color drain from my face, "what did I say to her?"

"Nothing. That's exactly the fucking point," Johanna stuck her finger in my face to amplify the thought. "That girl has all of her eggs in your basket, Mellark. She's too sweet of a person to be let down by someone. If you want the responsibility of that baby, say so, and keep your ass in district 13. If you don't give a shit, go to 2."

She dropped me at the control room, "I can't stand to see someone like her in that emotional state again. But think about your actions, Peeta. Not only will you help a girl who actually needs _you_, but they could probably use your help in a propo once the Mockingjay is gone."

She turned on her heel and walked down the hall.

**Gale  
**We only had one night until we were scheduled to go to 2. With her mother and Prim gone again, we had the whole room to ourselves. I knew we would barely get a moment alone for the next few weeks, so I tried to make the most of it.

With one kiss, Katniss had caught on to my mood. She put forcefulness into her kisses that it nearly knocked the wind out of me. It was a rare kind of desire that I wasn't sure Katniss even knew she possessed, and now she was unafraid of the idea of sex, she could fully participate now.

While last night was about me teaching her the ways of love, tonight was about her teaching me what she liked.

As I took off her clothes, button by button, I traced light patterns over her soft warm skin. I lightly kissed her shoulder, working my way up to her neck, when she softly moaned I knew I was on the right track.

I chuckled and began feeling my way across every inch of her skin. I kissed every inch of her, arms, legs, hands, chest, stomach, neck, face, lips. I didn't stop until her hands were almost pulling out my hair and her lips were on mine, begging for something more.

She pulled off my shirt and began to tempt me in the same ways. Her fingers weren't as soft as mine, and the pressure from them was making me moan by itself. I closed my eyes and whispered her name. She laughed as she began to work lower and lower until she reached me. She brought me to the point of ecstasy with her lips, smiling contently to herself when I brought myself out of the near-comatose state.

"Where in the _hell_ did you learn how to do that, Catnip?"

She giggled and smiled darkly, putting herself on top of me, "I asked a friend."

"Let me guess, the only two you have with any sexual experience: Johanna or Finnick?"

She stuck her tongue out, "Both, actually. They cornered me this morning and asked when it happened. Johanna said I was glowing. So I told them everything and they gave me a few tricks for pleasing my husband."

"Well, it worked." In one move, I had her flipped on her back and began to give her the same treatment. I knew I was good, but her screams and back arches made me feel like the king of the world. After she found her release, she wasted no time in going back right to where we finished the night before.

We worked each other, learning how to please the right spots and get the right reactions out of one another. I used all the experience I had from the other girls to please her more than I had anyone else. I knew I was her first, and I was proud to see her learning so quickly under my guidance.

After we were both too exhausted to continue anymore, she lay on my chest, hand tracing patterns on the bare skin. We didn't talk for what must have been hours, but neither of us could sleep.

"Gale, I know you had a lot of girls when we were at home. Did anything ever make you feel like I do?"

"Catnip, that's a stupid question." She giggled, "no one has _ever_ made me like feel the way you do about anything."

She laughed again, "So I did good then? I've been worried about not pleasing you as much as those other girls you used to see."

I rolled on my side so I could look directly into her eyes, "You know why I chased all those girls, don't you?"

She shook her head and I sighed. She really had been completely oblivious for all those years.

"Catnip, once I realized you didn't want to date anyone—ever—I began to chase every woman I saw. I hoped that hearing about me with all those girls would…I don't know…jumpstart your jealousy and make you realize you wanted me to."

"So I guess watching the first games was a bit of a nightmare for you…"

"You have no idea." My voice got more ragged with the more aggravated I got, "I knew you didn't mean anything you said to him. I can read your mind, Catnip. I could see the flickers of interest and I knew I was crossing your mind. That's why I told you I loved you. That's why I wasted no hesitation in taking you back as my best friend. That's also why I didn't waste any time volunteering to be your partner."

I tilted her head to mine and kissed her, "I've had a lot of women, and I'm not proud of it at all. But I do love you and I will never need another woman as long as I know _I_ am the one in your heart." I kissed her again before smiling, "Now go to sleep, we're leaving in five hours!"


	25. Chapter 25

**A/N: Hello! Sorry it's taken me so long to update, i've kinda hit a brick wall and had massive writer's block for the last two days. this chapter was really hard to write because i didn't quite know what direction i wanted to take next.**

**as always, PLEASE review! i just need a few more ideas and i would LOVE to hear what you guys think about pairings/actions/characters/etc. you guys rock :)**

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**Chapter 25  
Madge  
**The team had left a couple hours ago, and I still lay in bed waiting for Peeta to come. I had been so happy that he wanted the responsibility with me, but after I heard of his drunken fiasco, I figured I'd be better off trying to get Johanna to kiss me.

They had all been so nice though. Johanna seemed truly worried because she had stopped by every single day. She even contemplated staying behind for me, but I shooed her away and insisted she go. She would've hated herself for not being there when they took over the Capitol. She had grudgingly accepted, but had insisted that I call her if I needed anything.

Gale and Katniss had also stopped by early this morning. Gale had a lot of books his father had left him, and he gave them to me so I wouldn't be bored. I was grateful, because I was very bored. The doctors didn't really want me up and moving around until they could access the state of the baby…which they wouldn't be able to do for another week. Katniss hadn't had a lot to say, but then again, she never really does. She held my hand and kissed me forehead. She also said to go easy on Peeta, he'd had a lot thrown on him at one time.

Right, like he wasn't the only one.

Damn hormones, they made me crazy.

Delly had come by with as much regularity as Johanna. She had been a good friend of mine since birth, but she was always so happy and polite that I generally preferred Katniss's quiet company.

I was reading the latest book Gale had given me when I heard a knock at my door. I looked up and saw Peeta. He looked ashamed, which was good. He should be. "C-can I come in?"

I let his question hang for a moment before I nodded. He came in and sat in the chair next to my bed, he grabbed my hand and looked at the floor, clearly embarrassed.

"Madge, i-i-i… I wanted to say that I'm sorry. I just had a lot thrown at me, and I needed to relax for a while. It was childish and stupid, and I'm so so sorry I hurt your feelings. That was the last thing I wanted to do."

He looked into my eyes and I saw sincerity. I was so happy that he was finally saying the words I had wanted so badly to hear. "Madge, I do want you. And I do want to be the one you count on to take care of you. I know I haven't done a very good job lately, but please let me try. I stayed behind from the mission so I could prove myself to you." He mumbled something inaudibly.

"What?"

"I said I really didn't want to be away from you any longer. The last two days have been rough enough. And I'm sorry." But I looked at him, there was more in his eyes. "And, Madge… I love you."

I smiled and kissed him. Maybe Johanna was right—everything was going to work out after all.

**Katniss  
**I was glad that Gale and I hadn't told anyone other than Finnick and Johanna about our secret marriage, the engagement was enough to drive me crazy. The whole ride was filled with soldiers who didn't know us asking when we were going to tie the knot. One woman was so hysterical over my "leaving" Peeta that it took everything Gale and I had not to slap her. As soon as she left, Finnick and Johanna started laughing hysterically; Finnick slapped me on the shoulder, "Life of a celebrity is rough, eh?" before bursting into another round of giggles.

I shrugged, "Didn't see anybody asking for _your_ autograph."

Johanna looked as if she had a comeback so vicious it would make me cry, but Haymitch chose that particular moment to come into our soldier's room on the hovercraft to explain more of the mission.

"Now, everybody here knows who I am. I will not, however, be on the ground with you guys for most of the mission. I'm a mentor—my job is to see patterns and give advice—so that's what I'm going to do. Boggs will be your commanding officer. He will be reporting to a woman named Paylor," Johanna started giggling again at Haymitch's complete misuse of military ranks.

"Now, if Mason here will shut up a moment," he paused for her silence, "your job is to try to crack down this huge mountain in 2. It holds all of their military goodies and that's what we need to take before we can even hope of taking the district. Your squads will be notified of the missions for each whenever we land and set up camp."

He turned to the Victors and Gale, "you guys will be part of what we call the 'Star Squad.' Yes, sweetheart, I know you're scowling out of happiness." His comment turned my scowl into a smile, then back to a glare.

"So what does that mean we'll be doing?"

"Well, Mason," Haymitch turned back to her, "you'll be filming important shit. Apparently you guys are too 'precious' to waste on simple combat." He scoffed, clearly not a fan of this idea, "personally, I'd like to be rid of you all, but then we wouldn't have anybody to go on our Anti-Capitol propos."

Gale sniggered beside me, and I elbowed him in the ribs to shut him up. He mocked me, acting as if it really hurt before sticking out his tongue.

Haymitch told us we'd be landing in 20 minutes and then we were expected to set up camps. We'd be in tents, two people each. He read out the list of who would be bunking with who:

"Mason and Odair." Finnick started to protest, "Yes, Finnick, I know you're married. But I highly doubt Mason would go as far as to jump you naked in your sleep." He pointed at Johanna, "Would you?" She shook her head and he read on down the list.

"Hawthorne, you're with Everdeen." Apparently, we looked very surprised, because he continued, "If this boy's gonna be your body guard, it just takes less time to put you two together. Although…" he waggled an eyebrow like a villain, "maybe you two will be doing something besides _sleeping_, if I heard correctly." He took that time to excuse himself, his stupid laugh cackling down the hall.

My first instinct was to blush, my second was anger. My anger was directed at Haymitch first, _why did he have to bring up my personal life in front of people I didn't know?!_ Secondly, I turned on Finnick and Johanna, both red faced from laughing.

I spoke through my teeth, "what did you tell him?!"

"Nothing!" Johanna said between laughs, "we—laugh—promise! It wasn't us at all!"

Gale also spoke through his teeth, "Then who the hell told him?"

Finnick looked at Johanna, then to me, trying to assess whether he should spill someone's secret or not. He decided to tell me, a wise decision on his part. "It was Posy. Apparently she came by to check on you guys one night and heard something about a toasting and getting married. So she came to us, and when we didn't know, she said she was going to Haymitch."

"Damn it, Pose. Why Haymitch? I didn't even know they were friends!" Gale exclaimed.

"Oh, they are." Finnick smiled again, "didn't you see them at her party? Dancing and whatnot? Posy's five. It wasn't an act."

Gale grumbled some more as the hovercraft finally landed. Since everyone now thought we were sleeping together, he grabbed my hand as we went to look for our designated tent area. All of the 'Star Squad' was within 50 feet of each other, just in case we were needed to be evacuated. Pfft.

We settled in and Paylor came to speak with us directly. The squad was just made up of the victors, Gale, Haymitch, and two other soldiers who I didn't know yet. Haymitch was the tactical guy, not to be shown in any kind of video ever. Paylor was a very no nonsense type woman—I liked her right away. When I looked at Gale, I could tell he liked her too.

"Okay, let's get down to business. The people who are in charge think that the six of you should be as far away from the fighting as humanly possible. You're too valuable. I disagree."

She went on, "Yes, you're all very valuable in that you're all easily recognized. But I don't think any of you want to sit out from a fight. So I've been on the phone with Coin all day, we have agreed to let you make the decision. It will be a majority vote."

But the majority wasn't needed—it was unanimous. Paylor walked away to call Coin, and the six of us studied each other. We were going hand in hand, right into the heart of the battle.


	26. Chapter 26

**A/N: Hello again! Just dropping in to let you know that this is the chapter where i really veer off from what happened in the book. i've been trying to keep it fairly close (except with the Quell), but this is where i try to paint Gale in a little better light. so enjoy, please read, and let me know if i've made a huge mistake :P**

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**Chapter 26  
Gale  
**Right away, Haymitch is pissed off at the decision. I'm not sure if his anger stems from having to put up with Plutarch's bullshit if one of us dies, or if it's from actually caring about some of us. Not that I really care either way. I have plenty of people who will miss me if I die. My mom, my brothers, my baby sister. It would be very sad, but after a while they would get over me.

There is only one person who I don't really think would ever recover if I did die.

The army provided us with two sleeping bags, suggesting we sleep apart. Anyone who's been watching us recently knows better than to think I'd waste one of the few nights I have left without her in my arms. So I gave the sleeping bag to Johanna as a nice gesture.

I chuckle in the bag, remembering what she said.

_"I don't do charity, Hawthorne."_

_"It wasn't charity. I was hoping you'd wrap it around yourself to thaw that ice cold black heart of yours."_

She had laughed and taken it out of my hands, a gesture of friendship—I hope. I liked Johanna, her rough as shit attitude was hilarious, and I loved watching her get fired up and pissed off about something. It was hilarious, well, it was when it wasn't directed at me.

As I think about what I would do if I lost her, Katniss stirs in her sleep. I sigh, probably more nightmares. She had been sleeping rather well since I had started staying nights in her bed, but as always, it hadn't been enough to keep them away forever. I held her tighter to me, hoping to crush whatever bad feelings she was getting, when she whispered my name.

It wasn't exactly a whisper, but it wasn't really a whimper either. I knew everything about her, and I knew that voice she was using was one of fear. She was afraid _for me_ in whatever dream she was having. Catnip never had bad dreams about herself.

I decided I couldn't really handle seeing her in pain like that, and I didn't especially want to know what violent end I would come to at the hands of her subconscious, so I gently woke her. She started to thrash about when her eyes opened, but then she saw it was me and her panicked expression turned to a soft smile.

"Nightmares?" I ask.

"Of course. I thought you'd keep them away forever. No such luck."

"Can I ask what they're about?" I smirked at her, "Apparently my handsome figure was featured in them, since you said my name and all."

The color drained from her face and I could easily see that she had been planning on lying to me over the contents of this dream.

"I said it out loud?"

"Yeah, Catnip. Maybe you should talk about it. I overheard Peeta saying that it usually helped him to have someone tell him they weren't real."

"No, I just wanna go back to sleep," she replied. I looked her into my eyes, communicating without words, _Tell me._

"Ahhhhh, fine. I dreamed that you went in the first games with me. I dreamed that Cato killed you before I could kill him."

"_Oh._"

"Yeah. I can't live without you, Gale. I love you."

"I love you too, Catnip. But listen, it wasn't real. Cato is gone, and I'm not going a damn place."

She put her head on my chest, and within seconds was asleep listening to my heart beating in my chest. I only hoped I could keep her promise.

The next morning was full of strategic meetings and the big wigs getting everything together. Since our squad had voted to go directly into battle, plans were being changed around. Paylor had dubbed us as her right hand squad, and we would accompany her into whatever situation she called for. Haymitch wasn't very happy about it, but I guess he figured I wouldn't let Katniss out of my sight, so he let it slide.

Back home, we were told Peeta and Madge were already doing propos, centering around the two of them. everyone thought Peeta was so depressed about me and Katniss, so Plutarch thought it was time to show Panem how happy he was. We were informed that we wouldn't be shown the propos, but it wasn't like watching Peeta and Madge all over themselves was at the top of my to do list.

We fiddled around in 2 for about a week before anybody got any headway on the huge mountain, which Katniss had nicknamed the Nut, because Plutarch said it was a "tough Nut to crack." Paylor had called together the Star Squad along with all the heads of departments to try to figure out a way to get inside and take it. Beetee, Plutarch, Coin, Madge, and Peeta were present, through webcam in 13. There was only two of that group that we really expected to have any military input.

Paylor got the meeting started discussing the layout of the Nut, and where all the important areas were, but the purpose of this meeting was to try to find some kind of soft spot where they could force in and take the mountain.

My mind immediately started working, and eventually I started to pace to help myself think better. I'd dealt with a situation like this before when hunting with Katniss. We'd had animals burrow themselves in the sides of hills, having to force them out.

To solve our problem, we had found another point of entry on the hill and flushed them out with water, but that wouldn't work on a mountain…

Another time, we had simply tried to get the cave to crash in on itself. We had stomped on the hill until the rockslide forced all the animals inside into a waiting snare… I started to smile and looked at Katniss, she knew what I was thinking.

Paylor was speaking to Coin about air vents or something, but I interrupted, "What if we caused the mountain to crash on itself? If we surrounded all the exits and caused a rock slide within the mountain? The people inside would either get crushed by rocks, or they'd be forced out into the square, where we would be waiting."

Haymitch smiled, "It's damn near perfect, boy. It gives them a chance to choose their fate. And we, unlike the Capitol, aren't just killing everyone."

The color had drained from Katniss's face, "This is just like a mining accident, Gale. How could we do that to someone?"

I felt heat pulse within my muscles, "Nobody had a problem killing our fathers, did they? Nobody in the Capitol has a problem sending 23 teenagers to the death _every year_, do they?"

She shook her head, defeated. I looked to Paylor and she smiled, "Hawthorne. I want you and Beetee working on some kind of explosion that will start the landslide." She turned to Katniss, "Everdeen, I will find a way to give the people inside some type of warning, so everyone had the option of running. Is that fair to you?" Katniss nodded, and Paylor released everyone.

I stayed behind to video chat with Beetee, it seemed we had a lot to plan.


	27. Chapter 27

**A/N: sorry for the delays! i've been busy and writer's block just won't leave me alone. this is a fluff chapter, i thought Gale and Katniss needed one! so here you go :)**

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**Chapter 27.  
Katniss.  
**Gale was spending most of his days in the lab, video talking to Beetee. I know that Gale really hates being the cause of so much destruction, but I know he just wants this war to be over. Haymitch helps them out sometimes, offering his advice and checking on the status of whatever bomb they're building. I don't really know or care, so I don't ask questions.

Johanna and I have actually been spending a lot of time together recently. District 2 actually reminds her of home, so she's been a lot happier here than she was in 13. I can't really blame her—being outside all the time has a rejuvenating effect on us all. Finnick had actually started smiling for the first time since he left Annie, Gale and Johanna were cracking jokes across the dinner table, and even Paylor had a smirk once in a while.

Being outdoors, coupled with the fact that it might all be over in a couple months, had really put us all in a good mood.

Well, all of us except Plutarch and Coin. Plutarch because he wasn't getting the propos he needed, and Coin because…well, she never was happy about anything.

Plutarch was constantly on the phone with either Haymitch or Paylor, demanding that we actually get to do something. But Paylor insisted since there wasn't any need for her to join the battles yet, there wasn't any need for her squad to either.

So Plutarch had to settle with crews filming us training for battle, saying he would add-in some background stuff later. Didn't really matter to me, I got to work with the bow Beetee had made for me, and it was awesome.

At night, Gale would come back to our tent, thoroughly exhausted from being hunched over working all day and training. He would crash into the bed, always making the effort of asking me how my day went. This was the only time during the day we really saw each other alone, and he'd been too exhausted to really make much of it.

As of today, we had been in 2 for 4 weeks, and not seeing him was beginning to take its toll. Talking of mundane things, barely scratching surfaces, it really wasn't like us. I didn't know if this had to do with my slight disgust at his idea, or if it was his disgust with himself. I figured it was the latter, and I tried to bring him back to me one night just before we fell asleep.

"Gale?"

"Hmmm?" He curled his arms around me.

"You know I love you, right? I don't care what happens in this war, I will always love you just as you are."

I seemed to have roused him, because he propped himself up on his elbow. "Of course I know that, Catnip. Why are you telling me though?"

"You just seem like you're avoiding me lately."

He ran his free hand through his hair, unsure of what to say. He looked into my eyes, the striking grey barely visible in the soft light of the light next to the bed. _I don't want to anymore._

And with that, he rolled over me to turn off the light. He pressed his lips to mine with force I had only ever felt the night before the Quell. He rolled himself on top of me, hands trying to move the teeshirt of his that I had started sleeping in.

"W-what are you doing, Gale?"

I felt his smile on my neck, "Something I've been thinking about for four weeks. I thought you were mad at my plan, so I waited till I knew you were okay with me."

He quickly sat up to remove his own shirt before reaching back down to remove mine. He gasped, taken by the sight of my naked body. My breath caught, the sight of his shirtless body was a sight to behold.

Training had helped him in so many ways, but the muscles had always been there. I could see the ripple of every tendon, ligament, muscle, cell of his body with his every movement. In the dim light, I saw him smirk as he took in my reaction. This beautiful man belonged to _me_, and I to him. Anything else was unthinkable. I put my arms around his neck and pulled him closer, succumbing to one of the oldest desires of the human brain.

**Gale  
**I sat down in my usual chair in the lab, trying yet again to wipe the sleep from my eyes—it wasn't working. I was on my second cup of coffee and I still felt like I had been hit by a truck. I smiled, it was a very _cute_ truck…

I frowned again, wondering if there was any part of Catnip that could be compared to a truck. I stopped thinking and took another sip of the terrible coffee, hoping the taste alone would wake me.

If it did the trick, Beetee's droning did the opposite. The planning stages were basically done, we were just waiting on Beetee to actually make the damn thing. I wasn't sure why I was required to watch, it wasn't like I really cared if he stuck to the plan or not.

I settled with replaying last night over in my mind, hoping it would give me the boost I needed this morning.

In the short time that Katniss and I had begun having sex, she had become an absolute _goddess_. No girl had ever been able to have complete domination over my every thought, none had ever been able to take my breath away, and none of them had ever left me wanting more.

In the past, my sexual experiences were fun, but they were just that. They were only for fun, and they didn't matter. No girl had ever captured my heart in such a way that it reflected on me physically. I'd never let anybody have a power over me the way Katniss did. I didn't know why I was entranced by her features, and I damn sure didn't know why she was so fascinated with mine.

Not that I really cared what her reasoning was.

Last night had been so…phenomenal wasn't exactly the right word. But damn, it sure was something. After she had eased all my worries, we had made passionate, desperate love.

I smiled to myself, completely ignoring Beetee, as I allowed myself the pleasure of a flashback.

_She had realized her need just as I realized mine. We tore off each other's clothes, blinded by the haze of passion. We took in each other's bodies, and all I could think about was how perfect she was… and how badly I needed to be inside her._

_Apparently, she had been thinking along the same lines, because in one motion, she flipped herself on top of me, kissing every square inch of my skin. _

_Some of the moves, I don't even know where she would have learned them, but I didn't really care. She was mine, and she was a goddess. I felt my way all down her body, exploring every inch as if it was the first time I had ever seen her naked. She flushed, her skin radiating heat beneath my fingertips. Suddenly, she stopped, pinning my wandering hands above my head. She shook her head and pressed a finger to my lips. "Tonight is about you getting everything you deserve."_

_She smirked as she took in my face. I had been biting my lip so hard that I was sure I could taste blood, but the only thing I wanted to taste was her tongue. She moved her body against mine, keeping my hands above my head, and her chest in front of my face. I could take it anymore, I had to kiss her, I had to be _with _her. I was about to burst, thinking of how amazing it would feel to be within her…_

"Gale? Are you paying attention to anything I'm saying?"

"Huh? What, Beetee?"

"You weren't paying attention. How much sleep did you get last night?"

I blushed, the sun had been coming up as Katniss and I had finally stopped. Luckily, her training had been cancelled due to rain, so she could get a few hours of sleep. Beetee cleared his throat as I ran my hands through my hair, "Uhh, not a lot. Katniss had… um… nightmares."

Beetee seemed to buy it, but he demanded my attention from me once again, asking for final opinions. He closed the video chat saying the bomb would be in 2 by tomorrow evening. I got up from my chair and went to inform Paylor.


	28. Chapter 28

**A/N: TWO IN ONE DAY?! I know, what's wrong with me!?**

**I got the inspiration for this a little earlier today, it's mostly fluff, but we get to learn a little bit more about Johanna, and Peeta makes a decision a few of you have been asking for ;)**

**Please Keep Reviewing! I love it when you guys do! You rock :)**

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**Chapter 28  
Peeta  
**The propos were going well in Plutarch's opinion. He had all the footage he needed of Madge and I, and it was enough to convince even the hardest of hearts. We'd tried it on Coin to prove it. And if her heart of stone could melt into a frown, it was sure to provoke tears out of every normal person that watched it.

The propos had depicted the two of us madly in love, acting wasn't very hard for me to do, since I'd done it for a year with Katniss, but I didn't have to put a lot of effort into it, and Madge didn't either. She looked at me with a genuine smile, and she held tightly to my hand whenever we were together. With Katniss, everything had been forced, but with Madge, it was natural to have my arm around her waist, or to kiss her forehead, or to do anything that was a display of affection.

We had decided (well, Madge had decided) that the baby would be given my last name, since I was taking full responsibility as if it were my own anyway. The right people had been told, and it was official. Even if I wanted to, I couldn't back out now. But I didn't, I was happier than I had been with Katniss for a year, and my whole life before that.

But what I was going to give her was to be a bigger ordeal than when Cinna had safely escaped to 13 with Portia and both of the prep teams. In fact, it was his advice I was seeking today before he deployed to 2 tomorrow. No one who was out there, except Haymitch and Paylor, knew that Cinna had made it out alive. He had asked that it be kept a secret so he could surprise Katniss, Gale, and all the victors.

I entered his room cautiously, he looked up from whatever he was packing. "Well, hello Peeta. What brings you here?"

Cinna was always right to the point, I liked that about him. "I came to ask your advice."

He set down the shirt in his hand and sat on the bed, "Well ask away."

"I love Madge. We've been here for a long time and…" I paused, unsure of what Cinna's reaction would be. "I want to propose to her. She knows I want to marry her, and the baby will be given my last name anyway, but I want it to be official."

Cinna smiled in that knowing way, "I figured you would. In fact, I actually brought just the thing with me."

He walked to the closet and retrieved a suitcase. "Some of these were for Katniss and Gale, but I made some for Finnick and Annie, and for you and Madge."

"You're kinda late for Gale and Katniss." Oops, that slipped.

"I figured as much. I figured they'd do it on their own before they really told anybody anyway. Katniss doesn't care for all the fan-fare that Plutarch would've made over it."

He laughed, and I smiled back as I looked at the suitcase.

The rings were divided into three equal sections. It was easy to see which section belonged to which couple. There were simple rings with sea green and blue stones inset around a diamond. I didn't know Annie's style, but I did know that these reflected the colors of the ocean, and these were for Finnick to choose.

The other set was for Gale and Katniss. They were plainer than the other couple's—Cinna knew what Katniss liked. They were smaller and only had a few stones, one even had yellows and reds and oranges, I held it and looked at Cinna questionably. "Katniss wouldn't like this one."

"I know that. But I figured if the two of them had made it out of the Quell, the Capitol would've forced their hand. I wanted her to have something to show off at the Capitol, while still having something that was more her for at home."

Cinna was a genius. I put down the section for Gale and Katniss and took in the section I had to choose from. They were all sparkling, white diamonds and pearls—Madge's favorite. Since I was fond of pearls, I chose one that was a smaller white diamond, with pearls surrounding it. It had a thin band that wouldn't overwhelm her finger.

When I held it up, Cinna gave me a box to put it in. He winked at me, as I turned to leave. "Peeta, don't forget to get on one knee!"

**Johanna  
**When the stupid bomb got to camp, everybody made a bigger deal than necessary. Okay, so it was a bomb. It wasn't putting me back in 7 tomorrow, so I really didn't give a damn.

Being outside had definitely put me in a better mood, as did rooming with Finnick. He was really nice and had a great sense of humor, something I didn't see a whole lot of when we were mentoring.

He missed Annie. It was so obvious to me, and he tried so hard to hide it. I figured nobody else really noticed, because they were all involved with other things. Gale and Katniss couldn't really get enough of each other, Haymitch was busy with military shit, and the rest of our squad was so intimidated by Finnick that they wouldn't speak.

I mean, I didn't really have anyone else I loved, but it definitely helped to have someone I cared about as a best friend, someone that I could really open up to.

As I lay in bed, I started wondering what it really felt like to have someone you loved alive, but you couldn't be with them. I started to ask, but Finnick interrupted my thoughts.

"Johanna? Are you awake?"

"Yep. What's on your mind?"

"Can I ask you a personal question? You don't have to answer if you don't want to."

I laughed, "Sure, Finnick. You can ask me anything."

"How did you lose everyone you loved?"

_Wow._ Wasn't expecting that question. "Uhh, it's a long, sad story."

"I don't care. I've just been wondering ever since you mentioned it the other day."

I took a deep breath, searching the memories. I briefly wondered why I hadn't told him this before, but it didn't matter because I was telling him now.

"After I won my games, Snow had a visit with me. You were still too young to be sold, but I wasn't. He told me that he wanted me to sell my body to the men, and women, of the Capitol. At first I refused, but, like you, he threatened my family."

Finnick had sat up on his elbow, his eyes had that sad, hollow look, "Did you accept?"

"At first, I didn't. But he killed my best friend in a 'machine' accident at the lumber factory. We were like Gale and Katniss. After that, I realized that he was serious, so I gave in and did what he asked… for a while."

My therapist after I had gotten tortured told me that I needed to convey just about every thought I had, so I kept going.

"The first man I was set up with was just a couple years older than I was. It was my first time, and he became really gentle when I told him that. He acted as if he generally cared about me, so I refused his money. He was the type of person I would've really liked to fall in love with—the natural way."

"After that, it all went downhill. I was still new at…sex, and they didn't like it when I didn't know what I was doing. I got beatings as often as I got sex."

"The second man I was set up with was one of those people. He told me to get on top, and when I told him I didn't know how, he hit me so hard across the face that I was purple for a week. He just demanded that I do it, and every man after him demanded something else. Occasionally I got hit, occasionally I got taught. Each man was different."

"Every so often, the first man would call back. His name was Ryne. He and I didn't even have sex all the time, he would just pay me to talk. He was the only one who seemed to care that I was getting the living shit beat out of me by some of these guys. Snow sure as hell didn't."

"One day, this man literally beat me to within an inch of my life because I was sore and I didn't want a certain position. He beat me unconscious and left me in the hotel room. Luckily, Ryne was my next appointment for the next day, and he happened to walk into the room and find me. After that, I told Snow I was done. I told him I had fallen in love with Ryne and I wasn't sleeping with these people anymore."

Finnick was so involved now, "What happened? What did Snow do?"

I scoffed, "Ryne had a 'car accident' the next week, he was dead instantly. I was glad it was quick. After that, I went back to 7 to tell my parents, who were my only family, what happened. I told them I was sorry, but I couldn't do it anymore. Within a month, they were both dead."

"After that, I stopped caring about people. He realized he couldn't take anyone else from me, so he left me alone. Well, until I was captured, then they tortured the living hell out of me. Payback, I guess."

Finnick looked like he might be crying, "I'm so sorry, Johanna. Thank you for telling me. I am sorry that happened to you, but I know you won't want me to treat you any differently."

I rolled over in my sleeping bag so I could punch his shoulder. "Just remember how well I can throw an axe whenever you think about giving me pity." He laughed and shook his head before saying goodnight and turning off the lamp.

I braced myself for sleep, knowing exactly who would be starring in my nightmares tonight. I held tight to the heart shaped locket with his picture in it that he had given me, hoping he'd keep them away.


	29. Chapter 29

**A/N: Little longer chapter today, not as much fluff :P**

**I'm also thinking about whether i want to cut this off in 30 chapters and write a sequel, or if i wanna keep going till the plot is over. what do you guys think? Leave reviews and tell me your opinions on how it should end or what you'd like to see! Thanks :)**

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**Chapter 29  
Katniss  
**Paylor had all given us the night to rest before we attacked the Nut tomorrow evening as the sun set. Haymitch had insisted we leave them in the complete darkness, that it would make them panic more. I wasn't thrilled, but I wasn't a military strategist either, so I kept my mouth shut and did what I was ordered to do.

After supper, we'd had a party of sorts. Paylor had allowed some kind of alcoholic drink that Gale and I refused, but everybody else took a drink of. Johanna and a somber looking Finnick had gone to bed earlier than the rest of us, Paylor and Haymitch turning in next.

Before long, Gale and I were the only two who were sober enough to still be considered awake. We helped two other soldiers to their tents, causing us to walk by Johanna and Finnick's tent. Gale was poised and ready to burst in to scare the two, and as he tensed up, we heard part of Johanna's conversation. "After that, I told Snow I was done. I told him I had fallen in love with Ryne and I wasn't sleeping with these people anymore."

I gave Gale a look, _not now._

He rolled his eyes, _are you sure?_

I nodded and headed to our tent, not wanting to be around the fight that would be had if Johanna had found him listening in. I started to imagine Gale and Johanna fighting. He deserved a punch or two for some of the things that came out of his mouth, but I knew better than to let someone kick his ass. I wasn't sure Gale could let someone, even a girl, just straight kick his ass.

He came up behind me and grabbed me around the waist, obviously still thinking about last night. I smiled and let the memory consume me too. I pressed my hips against his, just the slightest pressure. He kissed hungrily at my neck until I applied a little more pressure. He surrendered with a groan and picked me up, one hand under my back and the other under my knees, and carried me to our tent as fast as he could.

…

Since we really weren't scheduled to be anywhere until right before they set off the bomb, Gale and I took the opportunity to sleep in. I woke to his light snores, and the fitful movements of his dreams. It was weird, Gale never really dreamed a whole lot, and it was even more weird that he'd had dreams on a night I didn't.

I got up and dressed, hoping that the mess hall was still serving some form of breakfast. They were, so I picked up a couple bagels and some coffee to bring to Gale. He was stirring as I made my way through the opening of the tent, and I just watched him for a few seconds, appreciating how beautiful he was lying on his stomach.

Smooth, dark skin, dark messy hair, a hint of stubble on his jawline, and muscles outlining every feature. He was beautiful, and he was all mine.

I set down our breakfast and straddled his back, bending down to whisper in his ear, "Good morning, Gale. I brought you breakfast." I kissed him just behind his ear, knowing it would send goosebumps down his body and wake him up.

It did its purpose, and he looked over his shoulder, "Good morning, Catnip. What'dya bring me?"

I got up and tossed him the bagel and we ate and drank our coffee before getting dressed and finding the rest of the squad.

Everyone was all a-flutter for some reason. Apparently, big news was coming from 13, and they had sent someone important to bring it to us. As long as it was _good_, big news, I didn't really care.

Gale casually grabbed my hand as we made our way through the makeshift rebel base. We got to the edge of the train station where all the other soldiers were. Paylor caught us and called our names, "Hawthorne! Everdeen! Someone here to see you both!"

We glanced at each other curiously before Gale led me through the crowd. Apparently, this VIP hadn't even gotten off the train yet. Haymitch was the first off, and his good news was announcing that Peeta and Madge had become engaged. Peeta was announcing it through a propo this afternoon. I glanced to Gale and squeezed his hand, he bent down to kiss my cheek. He leaned in to my ear, "Plutarch must be dancing around like Posy right now." I laughed, and turned my attention to whoever was getting out of the train next.

He wore all black, no tattoos of any kind, although it was clear he was not from the districts. He was almost indistinguishable except for his gold eyeliner… _Cinna._

"Cinna!" I shouted as I ran to the door of the train, he smiled and took me into a bone-crushing hug.

"Girl on fire! I wanted to surprise you, and apparently everyone kept the secret, because you look really surprised!"

I couldn't do anything but smile, and neither could Gale. He really respected the man who had given me such an edge in my first games.

Paylor came up to the platform, "Attention. It is currently 1200. At 2000, we are going to launch the attack. So at 1900, I want everyone to meet in front of my tent so we can go to our places. Star squad, I want you in my tent at 1830 to discuss our roles in this attack. Cinna, you are to report with the star squad."

Everyone dispersed. Cinna left to go tent to his tent and to get all of our battle gear together, since apparently he had designed it.

Which left Gale and I some free time to go back to our tent and enjoy the spoils of marriage for about the fifth time in two days. I just crossed my fingers, hoping I could walk tonight.

**Gale  
**The phone was next to the sleeping bag, buzzing away. I hated the damn thing, and I'd told Paylor I hated it when she gave it to me. But she'd insisted that she be able to get ahold of both Katniss and I, so she'd made sure I knew how to use it so I could teach Katniss to use hers.

She hated the damn thing almost as much as I did. It hadn't really come in handy yet, since we were never apart, there was never really any reason to text message each other. We'd tried it a couple times, but since we were five feet away, it got tedious.

I got up, wearing only my boxers, and looked at it. Two texts from Paylor, a phone call from Haymitch, and what could only be a very angry voicemail. I decided to ignore the voicemail, cause Haymitch would probably just repeat whatever he had said whenever he found me. I looked at the two texts.

One said that the committee of military big wigs had determined the place to store the bomb. I didn't really care.

The next one required the presence of me and the beautiful girl taking a nap. I sighed, she'd taken this power nap to regain her strength, and if she felt like I did, the nap hadn't helped much. I grunted and pulled on my military issued pants.

"Catnip, wake up. They need us in command."

She groaned and rolled on her stomach, "Can't they do anything without us? I choose option one. Now leave me aloneeeeeeeeeeee." She drug out the last syllable and I laughed at her.

"Now, Catnip. Either you get up and come willingly, or Haymitch is going to drag you out of your sleeping bag stark naked. Your choice. Personally, I'd rather the entire camp not see your goodies, but if that's what turns you on, who am I to disagree?"

She rolled back over and smiled, "Maybe the sight would give him a heart attack and kill him."

I laughed and threw her a pair of her pants. She threw them back and got out of the sleeping bag. Katniss's natural beauty never failed to take my breath away.

When she had braided her hair and got dressed, we headed down to the command tent, which was right next to Paylor's. We had about an hour before any of the other victors were supposed to be there.

We walked in and Paylor's face turned from a frown to very indifferent. Haymitch mumbled something about "damn kids," and Beetee smiled on the screen in front of us. "Hey guys, what's going on?" I asked.

"We need the Mockingjay's opinion on how we should warn the people of this explosion," Paylor replied.

"I thought it'd be a good idea to get yours and Beetee's opinions, since it is your bomb," Haymitch said.

I looked at Katniss, "I think the best way is to have Beetee hack into their system and show a video of Katniss. Let her warn them." She nodded her approval.

Haymitch looked to Paylor and back to me, "Boy, you need to be in it too. Sweetheart here doesn't have a damn clue what the plan is. We need someone with a handsome face like yours to explain what's going to happen, and then Katniss give them the option to switch sides."

I swore, I didn't wanna be the face held responsible for the untimely demise of so many. But if it took some heat off Katniss, I'd deal with it.

"Fine. When do we start filming?"

**Finnick  
**My phone started buzzing about the time Johanna's did. We had taken the afternoon to ourselves and a few others, playing cards in somebody's tent. We both looked down at the text we got, groaned, and headed for command.

"We aren't due for another 45 minutes, wonder what's up," I said.

"Does it really matter?" Johanna asked acidly, "We're victors. It's probably something just oozing with fun."

We got to the tent to see Gale and Katniss being dabbed with the tiniest amount of makeup by Cinna. "What's going on now?" Johanna demanded.

"Well, brainless," Katniss replied, "apparently _I_ have to be the one to tell the people of the Nut that it's crashing in around them. And since Gale is so damn good looking, he's volunteered himself to explain how the damn thing works."

I nodded and walked over to where the camera was. Apparently, it was going to be a simple shot.

Beetee said something to Paylor, who nodded to the camera man, who put Gale and Katniss in their places. Someone said "Go," and Gale began talking.

"People of District 2, I am Gale Hawthorne. I am a rebel, but I have information that will be helpful to you. The rebel forces are surrounding your military hold up in the mountain, we also have a bomb that will take out all of your air vents and most of the exits." He turned to a map of the Nut to illustrate, "The bomb will cause a rock-slide avalanche, and it will bury most of you inside."

He looked to Katniss, "But we offer a way out. We don't want to be like the Capitol and just kill everybody at once. We believe in second chances. We will have guards posted at all the exits, but if you come out, hands raised, no arrests will be made, and no weapons will be fired. We want _peace_, we don't want to harm anyone. We just want everyone safely out of the mountain."

Gale looked back into the camera, and he looked pretty fierce. "You have one hour to make your decision. No one will harm you as long as you exit the mountain peacefully."

With Paylor's wave to Beetee, the camera shut off. I looked to the monitors on the screen and waited for the chaos to start.


	30. Chapter 30

**Chapter 30  
Gale  
**I was frustrated at myself for letting Katniss go on camera. There was no doubt in my mind that she'd be targeted, and there wasn't a doubt that I would be too.

We walked with the rest of the squad towards the Nut, Johanna on my right and Finnick on Katniss's left. The four of us were closer than almost anybody in the entire army, and we had two priorities. The first was to ensure this mission went well, the other was to protect Katniss with our lives.

Not that it was going to be a hard sacrifice for me.

As we suited up, Cinna had explained which pieces of armor covered which vital organs, blah blah blah. I didn't really care. It struck me as odd that the lower stomach, shoulder, and arms were exposed, but I'd been through that pain before. As I thought that, my shoulder started to ache, so I started thinking about how tight fitting Katniss's uniform was…

But that didn't help anything either, so I just started thinking about the new bows Beetee had made Katniss and I. They had arrows that could just pierce, explode, or help us grapple surfaces so we could climb. I was impressed when he had shown us all the features.

Cinna's talking had interrupted my thoughts, "Since you guys are the Star Squad, naturally, you are the valuable people. We can't really afford for any of you to get captured, so if you look on your left shoulders there's a small packet within biting distance. It contains a pill that will kill you in seconds." He smiled at Katniss, "Called it Nightlock."

With that, we were released. Paylor had headed us right towards the center of the action. We were to be the secondary ring, escorting those who had claimed they wanted to switch sides. I grit my teeth, aggravated that we had given these people a second chance. Katniss caught my eye and my tense figure, _deal with it,_ her eyes said.

I just looked away, I didn't want to deal with giving any of these people mercy. "Gale, if we forgive them, then it makes us different than the Capitol. Killing them without giving them a chance only makes us look like Snow."

I didn't have anything to say, so I went back to gritting my teeth.

Paylor gathered us, "If all goes well, the troops from here will storm directly into the Capitol within the week."

I looked to Katniss uneasily. I didn't want her anywhere near that place until the fighting was over. Maybe I wouldn't have to think about it very hard. I hoped not anyway.

Within seconds, we were posted up at the appointed place, I looked to Katniss and grabbed her hand to kiss her knuckles before we grabbed our weapons. Johanna looked at Finnick and had noticed something that hadn't been said, because she just grabbed his shoulder, "I know, Finnick. I'll tell her."

Knowing it was probably some promise to tell Annie his feelings, I looked into Katniss's eyes again, _I love you._ She nodded acknowledgement and drew her weapon.

The bomb went off with a loud _thud,_ and within seconds people were pouring into the square. Apparently our propo had worked, because no one came out with weapons raised. Our jobs were basically to make sure no one had a bomb on them, take the weapons they had, and send them down the line for someone to take their names. I didn't like just taking someone's property from them, but Paylor assured me they would get it back if they cooperated.

About 30 minutes into our sorting, something didn't feel right. The avalanches had worked exactly as Beetee and I planned, but something was amiss. I couldn't put my finger on it, but I kept checking behind my back, waiting for someone to strike. Either my actions made Katniss uneasy or she had the same feeling, because I caught her checking over her shoulder more than once. It reminded me of being in the arena.

We stayed this way for another 15 minutes before we all heard Haymitch in our loud speakers. "Capitol air raid! To the bunkers, now now now!" getting louder each time he repeated it.

I grabbed Katniss's arm and led the way to the bunkers, unsure if she still knew her way there or not. Johanna grabbed her other arm to follow, and Finnick brought up the rear. We got in, sealed the door, and prepared ourselves.

Haymitch came in on the ear pieces, saying someone had given away our operation and they were trying a last-ditch effort before they grabbed all the Capitol officers and headed back to the city. I grit my teeth and halfway glared at Katniss. This wouldn't be happening if we had just killed them all. She glared back for some unknown reason.

Then we heard the first bomb hit. Instinctively, I covered her with my own body, prepared to take any rocks or debris that might hurt her. Wave after wave, bomb after bomb, our bunker held still. Paylor was to one side, counting the time between each attack; I figured it had something to do with a military strategy, or maybe she was just trying to waste time. I held tight to Katniss, hoping she'd fall asleep in the midst of the bombs.

**Peeta  
**"The bombing continues, President Coin," Haymitch said over the monitor. I was beside myself with worry. All of the people I cared about were strapped down somewhere hoping they didn't die in the next few minutes.

"What can we do, Haymitch? What do we do?"

"Pray," Haymitch replied.

I threw my mug of coffee across the room, hoping it smashed into something important. My rage was mounting at the number of people who were dying for no reason. "We have to get them _out_!" I bellowed loud enough for everyone to turn their heads. "We have to give them a message, a counter attack, _something!_"

Madge came behind me and grabbed my hand for support, I smiled, hoping her pregnancy hormones would kick in.

"President Coin, if you don't send them something, Katniss is just going to get it in her head that she's on her own. Then she's going to wreak havoc without permission."

Coin chewed over Madge's words. "Alright. I shall authorize a counter attack."

She leaned to the microphone. "Haymitch, this is President Coin. I want you to release the Star Squad. Their bunker should be quite a distance away from the initial bombings. I want you to release them for a counter attack. And I want a crew filming the entire time."

If Haymitch was surprised, he didn't show it. He just said, "Yes ma'am," into the microphone and signed off.

I looked to Madge, hoping Katniss would take the hint and give somebody in one of those hovercraft hell.

**Johanna**  
Did Haymitch really just tell us to kick some ass? I smiled to Finnick, he didn't have to tell us twice.

I grabbed the gun Beetee has specifically made for me, and Finnick grabbed his. We led the way out of the bunker into the moonlight. The hovercraft was easy enough to spot, so I took aim and let one of the bigger bullets fly.

It hit its intended target in a flash of fiery explosions. The hovercraft went falling into the distance. I hoped every fucker on that thing was dead.

I looked to see Finnick laughing as if he were finally enjoying himself, so we took aim at the six or so on our side. I looked to Katniss, "We're here to take down hovercraft, brainless. Get to work."

She nodded and smiled to Gale, "Geese?" He smiled and nodded.

Their secret language was creepy as hell.

Finnick and I fired away, but none of them were as easy to take down as the first one. Since we didn't really have arrows that exploded on impact, we had to aim for the weak spots, which unfortunately there weren't very many of. Finnick and I had wasted basically all of our ammo, so we decided to watch Gale and Katniss hunt while we waited for more.

I had seen them hunt before in the arena, but they really weren't the same here. Katniss was, but watching her shoot a bow was poetry, it was the only time she really looked outstandingly pretty. As for Gale… I know it's wrong to lust after a married man, but _damn_. He was very attractive with a bow in his hands.

He and Katniss didn't even have to talk, they just shot, bringing one down with every arrow. Their timing was perfect, and not one shot went astray. They were easily the best bow shooters in the country. I didn't even know violence could be that beautiful.

The cameras were trained on them the entire time, broadcasting the counter attack live to all of Panem. Letting Snow see the hell he had unleashed on himself. I could help but whoop and yell whenever Katniss and Gale took down another plane, and Katniss heard me, instantly blushing. This was just too easy for them. Gale must have sensed this too, because he started smirking, looking for a way to make it harder.

He looked at her and smiled, looking like a sex-crazed teenage boy with a dirty plan. "Training center?" She smiled, remembering what happened and nodded.

I remembered that day too, all the victors trying the craziest things they could think of to get a giggle out of each other. I had ended up naked, as I always did when trying to make someone uncomfortable.

Then it became a game of who could miss the worst but still hit the target. Only 4 planes were in the way of them destroying the whole lot of them, and Gale and Katniss were just toying with these 4, making them believe they actually had a chance of escaping.

By the time they were done, both their faces were red from laughing, as was mine and Finnick's. For the first time, the pair noticed the cameras. Katniss looked to Finnick and I and nodded, and the four of us touched our three middle fingers to our lips and stretched them to the sky, letting our actions speak for our words. I smiled, hoping Snow was watching.


	31. Chapter 31

**Chapter 31  
Secretary of the President  
**oh no. this is bad, this is very very bad. I almost didn't want to bring him the tea he asked for. He'd probably throw it right back at me anyway.

Working for the President had its ups and downs, the ups were the parties, the feasts, the good seats to every event…but the downs were almost unspeakable. Uncontrollable rages, unexplainable deaths, keeping tabs on everybody he hated, and the worst part, the absolute secrecy! I had lived the Capitol all my life, as had my family for generations, and if my momma had taught me one thing, it was how to gossip!

And being a woman so close to power…_everyone _expected you to gossip, to spill details on someone's scandal or sudden death. And being the secretary of President Snow meant I had every detail anyone could want. It was very tedious to have to keep my mouth shut or risk getting fired/killed.

There was only one person I had ever shared details with, and now he was a rebel, and he had shared every secret and detail he knew on television. But he had clued me in on a detail that even I hadn't been told. It was a detail that had caused me to question my place in everything, and to ultimately change my role.

_The President had just come out of an important meeting with a very somber 16 year old Finnick Odair. As Victor of the Hunger Games, I had expected Finnick to look more… Happy. As a secretary striving to be an advisor, it wasn't my place to question how people looked about anything, especially of people just five years my junior, so I had said hello to Mr. Odair and continued in with the President's tea._

_"Ahh yes, Miss Dawn Harpstring. I see you met Mr. Odair on your way out?" he stirred sugar in his tea and smiled politely. At the time, no one had questioned the President's actions in anything, but I was about to start._

_"Oh barely, sir. I did not get to introduce myself."_

_"Excellent," he smiled. "Mr. Odair has just become available and on the market. I would like for you to make an appointment with him."_

_"An…appointment, sir?" I was only 21 and I was very confused about what the President was asking of me._

_He smiled again as he sipped his tea. "Miss Harpstring, I will be handling the financials of this appointment. All you need to do is simply show up and give Mr. Odair a…" He smiled again, "_good_ time. Here is the name and number of his agent. Make the appointment for tomorrow, if you will. You'll be the first one."_

_I nodded, took the business card he had extended to me and left the office to call. Since my boss had instructed me to call, I had no idea what the meeting would be about. So when the agent answered the call and I said I wanted an appointment, the woman just sighed and asked what time._

_"Um, any time that would be best for Mr. Odair."_

_I heard the woman mumble something to Finnick, who must have been next to her, and after a few minutes of mumbling, she said, "Mr. Odair would like to meet for dinner first. How about at the restaurant on 2__nd__ Avenue, 8 pm tonight?"_

_"That would be lovely. Um, ma'am, did the President inform Mr. Odair what this meeting will be about?" I started to stammer, suddenly nervous, "B-b-because he did-didn't tell me…"_

_She sighed again, "Of course he didn't. Finnick will discuss it with you over dinner tonight."_

_She hung up and since it was already 4 pm, I started to get ready._

My phone rings on my desk, distracting me from the memory of how I got here. The area code isn't Capitol, and it isn't on any of the numbers I have listed, so that can only mean it's one person. I click the red button under my desk, the one that connects me to a secure line in which I can talk freely and pick up the phone.

"President Snow's office, this is Dawn Harpstring speaking, how can I help you?"

"Oh _hello_, Dawn!" It's Effie Trinket! Do you have a moment?"

Oh great, Mockingjay code. It's my first time ever using it and I don't have it written down; everything in my life is written down just so I can remember. Effie's response was easy, it was just asking if I was secure.

"Yes ma'am, office is basically empty. What can I do you for?" _What's up._

"Well, Dawn. I was wondering how soon that party at the mansion will take place?" _When would it be safest to storm the Capitol?_ "It _is_ at the President's mansion, right? I could've sworn that's what my stylist told me…"

I smiled, Effie was a natural at this code. "Yes ma'am, the party is still on. Let me check the calendar."

I remembered Haymitch had wanted a big event to be taking place, but in light of all the districts falling, none were scheduled. Literally, none.

"Well, Miss Trinket, it seems that all the dates are open! So I guess you get to pick the date, since your coordinating the entire party!" I giggled for the effect of anyone listening in.

"Oh my. How does two weeks sound?" More code, _two days_.

"Perfect, see you then!" I smiled as the line went dead and clicked the red button again.

Since there really wasn't anyone in the office, I began reviewing the decisions again, just to be sure I'd made the right one.

_As we met for dinner that night, Finnick was nervous. His suit was just a little too tight, no doubt to highlight every muscle in his gorgeous sixteen year old body. But I was 21, just a little too old for my taste. We chatted politely, talking about ourselves and what I do for a living, when Finnick broke the tension. "Miss Dawn, you really don't know what's going on tonight, do you?"_

_I shook my head, embarrassed that my superior hadn't told me a damn thing._

_"Snow wants me to become…" his voice was hushed, and he bent low to whisper, "a prostitute for the pleasure of the Capitol women."_

_I gasped, not being able to help my surprise. "But you can refuse, right? I mean, me? Hah, hah," I had laughed._

_Finnick's eyes had been unable to meet mine, "There is no refusing…he threatened _everyone_ I love. I don't even know why I'm telling you this!"_

_"Wait… so if we don't…he'lll…" My mind was running with possibilities and reasonable explanations._

_Sex slaves? In the Capitol? I knew that most good looking Victors slept around, like Johanna Mason, for instance, but I didn't know it was _forced_, or that it was _paid for._ It infuriated me, and I was not an easy person to get angry. I hated being lied to more than anything, and I was shocked that someone of Snow's stature had encouraged something so juvenile._

_Finnick graciously paid for the meal and took me to his car. He smiled weakly, "we have to be seen going to one of our apartments, whether we sleep together or not."_

_"Why not mine? Who knows who lives next to you," I laughed._

_When we got to the apartment, Finnick almost started crying. Even though he was very popular and pretty, he had been planning on saving himself for the perfect woman, and was very emotional at the thought of it being taken from him forcefully. Having never had sex myself, I was much of the same way._

_"It shouldn't be a choice taken from either of us. We should be able to _choose_ who we want to have sex with."_

_Finnick smiled, "It won't be that easy though. I've talked to the right people, a rebellion is 10 years away _at least_, probably closer to 15." I wanted to throw something at the idea of not being able to save this boy._

_"I don't know what to do for you then."_

_He had smiled, "take it easy on me then." He started to kiss me, and I realized this was his _choice_. He was choosing to have sex with me instead of someone the Capitol didn't let him have an option in, because I was different, because I would have let him have the option, because I would have lied for him and pretended we had sex._

_It was rough going at first, two virgins who really didn't know what we were doing, but Finnick stayed over and had breakfast with me, and we became friends from that day forward. Every time I got something interesting, I would call Finnick's agent, or sometimes Finnick himself, and we'd get together. We never had sex after that first day, but we would just lay around and exchange secrets about officials we knew of. We became close friends._

The phone from another desk rang, and I didn't care about walking over to answer it. My friendship with Finnick had been a great thing for both of us, especially after he fell in love with Annie and had to continue selling himself anyway. I was one of his best "customers," and we would just sit and talk about whatever had been going on. We were actually together whenever Katniss had presented Peeta with the berries.

Both of us had wanted a rebellion, but for my safety, Finnick had been the one in contact with the right people. When they announced the two winners, Finnick jumped up and said he had phone calls to make. He said he'd come to the Capitol often to keep me informed, but to not say anything about a rebellion anyway.

I kept my end of the deal, and during and after the Quell, the district 12 stylist, Cinna, and eventually their chaperone, Effie, had been the ones calling me asking for information. Finnick had assured me that I was a central part of the rebellion, and I felt like what I was doing was helping.

It was me who helped the President decide the card for the Quell (and who made the rules so Katniss could choose Gale), it was me who helped organize the hovercraft for their escape from the arena, it was me who installed the easy to break down firewalls for Beetee, it was me who had tipped them off about the bombings in two, and it was me that was telling them when to storm the Capitol.

I smiled to myself as the phones rang around me. It was me who could be tortured and put to death for all I've done. I crossed my fingers and hoped that they would pull this off before I got caught.


	32. Chapter 32

**A/N: ****MY INTERNET IS WORKING AGAIN! ****that's why i haven't updated, but i have it back now! This chapter is alot of fluff with a little plot, lol. But i'm on a roll with what's going on right now, so expect another chapter tonight or tomorrow! Keep reviewing and tell me what you guys like :)**

* * *

**Chapter 32  
Haymitch  
**okay, so the girl had given us two days. Two days to plan a strike from 2 to the Capitol. I had no doubts that we could do it, I just didn't want anyone (namely Katniss) getting ideas in their (or her) head about how this should go and ultimately ruin everything. I sipped on my white liquor in the room they had given me. Lately I'd been laying off the bottle a little, but all the stress had really gotten to me, and I know I think better while drunk.

Well, it wasn't just that.

I grumbled, remembering the conversation at dinner. Gale and Katniss had come out to everyone at the base about their marriage, and they were just a happy-go-lucky damn couple. It almost made me sick. The way he looked at her…it reminded me of…

Another sip of liquor. Those memories would _not_ inhibit me tonight, and they damn sure wouldn't haunt me again. The important thing was to strike the Capitol with as many teams as possible from as many different directions as we could. Through different correspondences with Dawn, we had learned that there were pods beneath the Capitol, and looking at the map now, they looked like a giant fucking arena. Damn the Capitol. I hated them.

But, Dawn had given us an edge. She had informed Effie not too long ago that since she was so close to the President, she could disable the pods so we could just cross the streets safely. That was why it was so important that Dawn know when we were striking. She would see immediately when the rebels were storming the Capitol, and it would take her less than five minutes to disable the pods so our teams could pass safely through.

And I would be watching this from the safety of a hovercraft above the city. I took another sip of the liquor. I really did hate not being able to fight with the rest of the victors, but I had assured myself that I'd be of better use in the air, watching from above. Whether that was actually the case or not, I wasn't sure, but it made me feel a lot better thinking I could actually make a difference.

I reached for my handheld communicator on my belt. "Coin, I want you to let everyone on this base report for command at 0600 so we can discuss the tactics for this mission."

She confirmed my order and set to alerting the base. I took another sip of liquor and got out a pen and some paper so I could begin making the teams and marking on a map where I wanted them to attack from.

Well after midnight, I had most of who I wanted and where I wanted them, but I was also fairly drunk, drunk enough that the memories would come back if I didn't keep drinking. But I knew that if I kept drinking, I'd be fucking useless for the meeting tomorrow. So I put the bottle away and prepared myself for the memories and nightmares.

As I fell asleep, I began to see Maysilee Donner's face. figured.

My dreams were rough and violent, as they always were when I dreamed of Maysilee. I turned off my beeping alarm clock and rose for the meeting, taking a few more sips of alcohol to numb the hangover.

I dressed and walked down to command, where 800+ soldiers were waiting for me to give them orders.

…

Two hours later, everybody knew what the plan was and where to be. Katniss and Gale were a little pissy that they wouldn't be in the lead, but I wanted to make sure the pods _were _deactivated before I sent them in. Not that I didn't doubt Dawn, or her abilities to disable anything, I just didn't want to get the Mockingjay or her boyfriend blown up.

I dismissed the group and said we were leaving at 0800 for the Capitol. It'd take about four hours to get there, and hopefully we'd catch the general population off guard. I instructed them that no civilians were to be attacked unless they attacked first. Everyone seemed to understand, so I turned to the Star Squad. "And under _no_ circumstances are any of you to shoot the President without clearance. Understood?"

Each of them nodded, Katniss nodding last. It would be hard for her to obey the rule considering how Snow had made her life a personal hell for the last year or so. I didn't blame her a bit.

**Madge  
**This kid was making my life awful. I was never one to complain, but there was only so many times a woman could puke in 12 weeks before she wanted to hang herself.

That wasn't true. I hated hormones.

Peeta had been almost beside himself worrying over me. Every time I puked was like a personal insult to him, even though he had nothing whatsoever to do with this. It wasn't his kid. It wasn't his life. It wasn't a part of him.

Except that it was. I wasn't sure how, but I just felt it. This child had something to do with him. But that was insane to even begin to think about.

Since my parents hadn't made it from 12, and since Peeta was alone and didn't want me by myself, we had started to share a compartment. Which was okay, since we were engaged now. I had never been happier than the moment I said yes, and I saw in his eyes that he loved me, in spite of what had been done to me.

Of course, I loved my child. I was just thankful that I'd been given nine months to prepare, rather than being handed a kid or something. What bothered me was that my child was half of someone who was evil, half of someone who did things like rape prisoners. Some nights I would have flashbacks, and I'd wake screaming and thrashing.

Lately, my dreams had centered on the people who were going to the Capitol. Ever since they had shot down the planes in 2, Katniss, Johanna, Gale, and Finnick had become prominent in my nightmares. I didn't know if it was pregnancy or what, but it was driving me crazy. For some reason, I was really uncertain about the pods being deactivated. I didn't doubt Dawn, I just had a feeling that the Capitol would try some dirty trick to get them killed. Haymitch had echoed my concern.

But tomorrow, they would arrive in the Capitol and they would try to take it. Mrs. Everdeen and Prim, along with the rest of the medical staff, was heading out soon after the battle started to care for wounded. As far as I knew, Hazelle was going with them, but I was desperately hoping she wouldn't. Not only because Rory, Vick, and Posy were here, but because _I_ needed her.

Pregnancy wasn't something I was handling well, obviously. No one in my family had ever explained it to me, and I didn't have a mother figure who I could talk to about it. Mrs. Everdeen was very nice, but she was always at the hospital, and I always felt so stupid when our conversations made her neglect a dying patient. So I would bother Hazelle after school.

She really needed someone to talk to as well, since Gale was gone and the second eldest, Rory, was really too small to talk of Gale almost dying.

She worried about Gale more than everyone else in the control room put together. Her only solace was that Katniss would be by his side, and she would protect him if he got hurt. "Of course," she often fretted, "he'd die before he'd let her get hurt, but it's comforting to know that he won't be just…lying there…injured…" her eyes always got foggy.

I would always take her hand and smile as I looked at her, "She wouldn't leave him. She loves him."

So today, Peeta was in command, and I walked to the Hawthorne compartment. It always shocked me to see how Rory was developing just like Gale. Thinking of Gale made me think of Katniss, and how kind we were to each other for all those years. I'd always give her part of my lunch if she didn't have any, which she often didn't, because she'd give it all to Prim.

I always admired her for what she did for her family, and my father had too. He'd always believed in the rebellion, and he'd always believed it would take a girl like Katniss to get us there. But my father always thought Gale Hawthorne would be the one to kick start it.

I didn't really want to think about my father, so I passed the evening easily, playing games with Posy and letting Vick catch me up on some new novel he was reading. Since I couldn't wrestle, I wasn't of much use to Rory, so he just passed painful polite conversation until it was an appropriate time for his shower.

Taking my cue, I headed to my compartment to find Peeta already there and asleep. I had a twinge of guilt at letting him sleep alone. I curled in beside him and felt his arms stiffening around me, "I'm so glad you're here," he breathed into my neck, giving me goosebumps.

I gave him a school girl giggle and he kissed me some more, "I love you, Madge."

I smiled and turned so I could kiss him, "I love you too."

We fell asleep with smiles on our face.

…

The next morning, we rose early for breakfast and then headed to the command room. Everybody was tense, waiting for the word to come in from Dawn that she had disabled the pods. Her participation was the tipping point of the scale of this war.

Coin was tapping her fingers on a clipboard and Plutarch was pacing. Posy and Vick were led by Hazelle and Rory, who were both going with the med teams. The two youngest Hawthornes were in the care of Peeta and I until the Capitol had fallen. I pulled a sleepy Posy in my lap and let her sleep a few more minutes until the action happened. Vick curled into a seat with a new book he was reading and was instantly lost to the world.

After a few hours of coloring and singing songs around the room, Haymitch's voice came booming over the intercom, "Base, this is the Eagle. We have arrived at destination, over."

Coin looked to Beetee, who pressed into his microphone, probably looking somewhere for Dawn who would give us the okay. When Beetee gave the thumbs up, Coin pressed her microphone to her lips, "Eagle, this is Base. We have plowed the road for you, over."

I looked to Peeta, tense in his seat beside me. I put Posy down off my lap and grabbed his hand, he looked at me tenderly, "It will be okay, Peeta." He patted my stomach and kissed my cheek before looking back at the screen with the same tense face.


	33. Chapter 33

**A/N: Taaadaaaa! here is the new chapter! A little bit of a cliffhanger, because i'm evil :) it's a shorter chapter too, since the last ones were a little longer than normal. please please please review!**

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**Chapter 33.  
Dawn  
**Are they looking at me? No, no they aren't. _No one is looking at you_, I chanted over and over to myself. The rebels just radioed in, and I disabled the pods. As far as I knew, nobody had caught on yet. Just to be safe, I gripped my pill of Nightlock, ready to put it in my mouth the moment a Peacekeeper moved too close to me.

This morning, I had made all the preparations, just in case I needed to die. All the rebel documents had been shipped out to 12 with a load of tesserae, and would somehow make its way to 13. I wasn't sure how, but I'd been assured that I didn't need to know, just in case.

I walked down the hallway to the President's study, still acting as if nothing was wrong. Because as of now, nothing _was_ wrong. And in the President's eyes, it was going to stay that way. Everything that came to him had to go to me first, so unless it was a direct military strike where the army general went over my head, I would be the one that would need to tell him to evacuate… which of course, I wouldn't do.

When I got to his study, the President was just enjoying his tea. It was a little after noon, so I gave him his daily report.

"We still have complete communications from district one, but it's iffy, sir. Everything else has fallen to the rebels. The general wants to deploy the troops directly to each district within the next week, sir. These papers authorizing that just need your signature."

Snow stopped stirring his tea. "I don't think we need to do that, Miss Harpstring."

I started to get nervous, "Sir?"

He went back to stirring his tea, very slowly. "I believe I don't have to waste my resources in going to the rebel bases, because I have every belief that they will come here." He looked up and bore into my eyes, I silently hoped I was a good liar. "Think about it, Miss Harpstring. This city is the only place they have not acquired. They will seek us soon enough. You can leave the papers on my desk, you are dismissed."

I walked from the room, beaming at how smoothly that meeting with. It would be my last one until this whole mess was over. Haymitch wanted me to stay in the office until the word had went that the rebels were in the inner city, and then I was to bolt and head straight for their forces.

I sighed and brushed my blonde hair out of my eyes. There was a lot of opportunity for me to get killed today.

The clock ticked away at 1 pm. I was getting anxious, checking the news every minute or so. Finally I heard the flickers of a disturbance at the edge of the city. A flushed reporter came on screen, giving orders that the army was evacuating everyone. I checked again to make sure the pods were disabled before running to the President.

"Sir, the evacuations. Am I to assume we are staying?"

He smiled with a snake-like smile. "Miss Harpstring. I would like for you to stay right here in this office with me, and let's watch the action unfold, shall we?"

As he spoke, two peacekeepers leaned forward. One hit me so hard over the back of the head that my world started to go dark. I wanted to curse as I forgot my nightlock. I fought the darkness and sat up, figuring I had a concussion. They sat me in a chair and tied me there.

"Apparently, my secretary has been doing some very bad things behind my back." He smiled again, "We should probably take care of that."

**Katniss  
**I had never met Dawn Harpstring, but I made a mental note to hug her if I ever did. We were basically storming through the city with ease. No civilians shot at us because we were so heavily armed, and because we were pretty intimidating. Because Haymitch hates me, he had insisted that Gale, Finnick, Johanna, and I follow in behind another squad. The four of us had raised hell because we should be able to lead, but he wanted to make sure everything was off.

Which it was. And we were breezing through the city. But Gale and I had our bows, while Johanna had guns and Finnick wielded a trident.

Everything was going along exactly to plan, and the President's mansion was in sight…so was the Capitol army.

I heard Haymitch in my ear yell for me to hit the deck, and Gale crushed me to the asphalt so hard that I was sure he would've broken my chin if it hadn't been for the strap on my helmet. He army-crawled me to a side of the street, and basically wouldn't let me shoot at all until that street was clear.

Every time I had tried to get out far enough to get in a shot, he had just pushed me back with his huge arms. It might have been sweet if it wasn't so damn embarrassing. When Haymitch cleared us, he gave us two minutes to rest, so I pulled off my helmet and shoved Gale back.

"What in the _hell_ do you think you're doing?" I snarled at him, earning the attention of everyone on the street.

His eyes turned stormy, as they often did when he was angry. "Protecting you!"

I didn't need protection. I had won the Hunger Games and survived the Quarter Quell. I was the fucking _Mockingjay_ for Christ's sake! "I do not need your protection, Gale! I'm perfectly capable of handling a weapon and killing people myself! I'm not 12 anymore, you can't protect me from everything!"

His eyes misted back over, and they spoke the words he didn't have to, _I'm sorry_.

"I love you, Catnip."

"I love you too, Gale." I grabbed his hand.

He squeezed mine back, "Let's go hunt some damn presidents, eh?"

I smiled, he knew the way to my heart.

…

An hour later, the Star Squad was stealing the show. After we were sure that everything had been disabled, we got to lead the way. Our casualties and injuries were minor, throughout the whole army, so we pressed on, wondering where the action would start.

I had noticed as all the soldiers were shooting at us they were…_retreating?_ But where were they going? It seemed like back to the President's Mansion, but I couldn't be sure. Each member of the Star Squad had a microphone inside their helmet, so we could call out any patterns we noticed to Haymitch upstairs.

I pressed the button that would let me talk to him, "Haymitch, where are these soldiers going? It seems like they're going…"

"Back to the Mansion," he finished. "We've got them on camera, they're all lined up. We're sending in air support." I heard a click in my headset, and knew he was speaking to the entire army, "Everyone to the Mansion, double time!"

So we sprinted. We ran for the Mansion, prepared for battle, prepared to die.

Gale ran in front, with me following him, Johanna next, and Finnick last. The four of us would die for each other, no questions asked. I was never prouder of the three that surrounded me as I saw the set of Gale's jaw, the determination in Johanna's face, and the bloodlust in Finnick's eye.

As we approached the street, we began to see the army. The peacekeepers were lined up in front of the civilians, who I had no doubt that Snow had put there for protection. Upon Haymitch's orders, we went after the peacekeepers.

Although Gale and I had never fought together in hand-to-hand combat, we sure were good at it. We each covered the guys in front of us and the ones behind us. I used my bow as much as possible, but it wasn't much help at close range, so I reached for the small gun attached to my thigh.

Gale was locked in combat with a peacekeeper who was a little bit bigger than he was. Gale punched the man, who grabbed his wrist and twisted, reaching for Gale's gun.

"_DUCK!"_ I bellowed, and he did as I said, giving me just enough time to shoot the peacekeeper. Gale nodded, mouthed _Thank you_ and went to tackling a guy who was approaching me.

And the fighting continued for another hour before we saw that we were winning. We hadn't hurt any civilians, and they hadn't approached us, but we were winning.

As the peacekeepers got thinner and thinner around the Star Squad, we started to celebrate, looking for a way inside the mansion. Approval or not, Snow was dying today.

Just as we found a door on the side, we heard the air support Haymitch had been talking about. The hovercraft had the seal of district 13, and it sent packages to the ground. The children, having seen these parachutes in the Hunger Games, ran to them, excited. I looked at Gale, clearly confused. The color had drained from his face, and I knew what these were.

These were more of the bombs he had been working on. I heard the explosion just as Gale threw himself on top of me, knocking me to the ground. The last thing i heard before my world went black was the screams of a tortured Gale and Finnick, dying of flames.


	34. Chapter 34

**A/N: still on a roll with this! Here's the next chapter and i'm almost done D: Let me know what you'd like for an epilogue in the upcoming chapters!**

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**Chapter 34  
Peeta  
**I break the mug that is in my hand, I can feel the screams escape my lips, and I quickly try to erase everything I just saw. But nothing will ever erase this memory. It will be another that will haunt me for the rest of my life, just like the Games and the Quell. Another nightmare.

I feel the blood from the smashed mug and the glass that rests in my hand, but the pain is numb, my pain is nothing. Madge is beside me, screaming and crying for them to do something, screaming for the bastard who did this.

I must admit, the woman has a colorful vocabulary.

An attendant rushes in to take Vick and Posy away, but they fight her until I snarl at her to let them stay. I don't know what possessed me, because I certainly wouldn't want a ten and five year old to see their brother consumed by flames.

But that's what's happening, and all we can do is watch. Haymitch, on the other end of the communications line is silent. Only one person is barking orders and retaining control, but Coin's voice only floats to me as if it is on a dream wave.

Sure, the cameras show us a view of the entire courtyard, but we are only focused on one tiny portion of the screen.

When the parachutes landed, everyone looked to each other in confusion and back to the screen, except for three. The color drained from Beetee's face, and he screamed, "_Oh my God,_" realizing what those parachutes were, and how they were about to be used. On the screen, Gale had the same reaction as he yelled for Finnick and Johanna to get down, squashing Katniss in the process. In the room, Coin was silent.

As the recent events played over in my mind, someone had the good sense to mute the screams so Gale and Finnick's antagonizing screams could be silent. Posy and Madge were openly sobbing next to me, but I couldn't find anything inside me to comfort them. I looked at Vick, and the rage I felt inside myself was also within him.

I rose from my chair and marched to the front of the room, where Coin sat surrounded by her computers. I spun her around so she faced me and got inches from her face. "Who the _fuck_ organized that? Who sent those hovercraft, with a seal of _district 13_?!" I was spitting venom, I hoped to hell I scared the bitch. "_WHY WEREN'T THEY TOLD?_" I bellowed, echoing throughout the entire room.

To her credit, she never moved a muscle. She just made a move to stand up, and I forced her back into her seat. "What the fuck was that? You just sacrificed _children_, for God's sake!"

She looked dead me dead in my eye, "Some sacrifices need to be made for the better good, Mr. Mellark. I believe you, Miss Undersee, and the Hawthorne children are dismissed."

I started to see red and threw punches, not giving a damn who I hit. "You could have at least _told _them! They didn't know!"

I was sobbing by the time Plutarch grabbed my arms and held me back, but he was seeing his own rage, "This is on your hands, Coin. This blood is on _you_! And _you_ can explain to this country and to these families why you thought it was necessary to sacrifice innocents!"

They led me from the room with Madge, Vick, and Posy. All of us were streaming tears, trying to keep it together so we could figure out what to do. Plutarch walked beside me, suddenly stopping and grabbing my shoulder. "I will make sure she pays for this, Peeta. I'll let you know the list of the injured and what's going on as soon as I find out. You probably need to lay low for a little bit." He released me, and we walked back to my compartment.

I didn't know how or why, but Coin was going to pay for what she had done.

**Johanna  
**When I wake up, the first thing I notice is Finnick's screams. He had covered me, just like Gale had covered Katniss from the explosion and the flames. I started to panic, seeing the flames lick up their unprotected arms, legs, necks, faces. Their armor protected from flames, so their chests and backs were saved. Luckily, Katniss and I didn't have to panic for long, because nurses and doctors came with water and blankets to get the flames away.

Both Gale and Finnick were unconscious when they were loaded into the ambulance, and I was grateful. The pain would've been too much. The doctors checked out Katniss and me, bandaged our tiny burns and scrapes, and confirmed that the President's Mansion hadn't been taken yet, but they had heard the President was still inside. I reached for my helmet with the microphone inside, "Haymitch. I'm sorry to go against orders, but we gotta do what we gotta do." I weakly smiled to Katniss, "It'd be a wise idea to send reinforcements if you have them."

I pulled out my earpiece and stomped on it so it broke; Katniss copied my movements and grabbed her bow. She was trying not to let tears roll down her face, I grabbed her shoulder. "I know I'm not as good as Gale, but I can try."

She grinned slightly before setting her jaw, "Let's go hunting."

Since we had found a closer spot to entire the mansion on the side, we started there. We had found two soldiers on our way there who were obviously at a loss for what to do and figured the Mockingjay would be a good leader. One was blonde and well fed, probably from 2 or 4, the other was dark skinned with dark hair and well-muscled, probably from 11. But the each had guns, and the darker one looked like a good fight in hand-to-hand, so I said nothing when they followed us.

Katniss had been leading the way, but she turned to the three of us. "He probably has hostages, but I don't give a shit. If you see him, start fucking shooting."

A smile played at my lips, "You mean the Mockingjay doesn't want her own kill?"

She smiled back, "Bastard deserves to die."

We made our way through the mansion, having memorized the floor plans for it back in 2. We knew that the President would be holed up at the center of the building, so we began making our way through the hallways. It was weird, because no one was there. no lights were on, no TV's were running, it was deserted.

Katniss looked back to me, wanting to know if we should move on, I nodded, and looked back to the boys. Blondie nodded, but the other one didn't.

"Let me go first."

Katniss raised an eyebrow, "Why?"

He smiled, "They'll start shooting the second the door opens. Better me than you."

He forgot that we were wearing bulletproof vests over our chests, but I like that he wanted to sacrifice himself. Katniss opened her mouth to object, so I held up a hand, "Gale would want someone to go in front of you, brainless." That shut her up.

"My name is Ruben, by the way. I knew Thresh and Rue very well. We were always rooting for you after what you did for them, Mockingjay. I guess now is no different."

Katniss's eyes watered, threatening to cry again, so I hit her forward in the shoulder. She sniffled, but followed Ruben through the door. As we had known, it was the room the President and the Peacekeepers were in. As Ruben had predicted, everyone started shooting on sight. He took out two of the ten peacekeepers while Katniss and I made work of the other eight. The President was the only one left, besides some blonde strapped to a chair. I figured she wasn't here willingly, so she could be spared.

Katniss loaded another arrow and pointed it at his heart, "It's all over now, Snow."

The snake smiled, "I'm glad we aren't lying to each other, Miss Everdeen."

"It's Hawthorne now," she snarled.

"My apologies, it appears I have made a mistake. So that was your husband then, on the television?"

I knew it took everything Katniss had not to shoot him, since he was being so cavalier.

He took a step towards her and continued, "You see, Mrs. Hawthorne, you were always more of a threat to me than I was to you." This confused me, but I kept my gun trained on him, waiting for him to make one movement our direction too quickly.

"I see your confusion, let me explain. I have known for a long time that this rebellion was in the works, but there's also been more here than I've been able to fix. I had hoped a symbol such as yourself could see the dangers of a rebellion, and you would work for me instead of against me. But the thing was, you would come after me no matter what."

"That's the first true thing you've said all day," she spit.

The blonde struggled with the gag in her mouth, trying to say something, but all we heard was mush.

He laughed at her, "Well, I could have killed your family, your best friend, anybody, but what would that give me? You have more fight than anyone who has tried to stand up before. I could've killed your family, but you would've come after me with more vengeance than you are now. You aren't Miss Mason or Mr. Odair; you would have sought me out regardless of what I'd done to you."

He smiled again, "I know you have come to seek me out and to kill me. And I know you will succeed. But the only thing I ask of you, Mrs. Hawthorne, is to examine who you work for. I'm sure you noticed the 13 seal on that hovercraft?"

Her eyes grew wide. I think she had noticed it, but she hadn't really believed that 13 could've sent it until just now. The blonde was struggling furiously now, obviously with some important information.

He smiled, knowing Katniss hadn't contemplated 13's involvement. "Why would your dear President Coin launch the strike that killed your love?"

She couldn't stand anymore; she cocked back the loaded arrow and sent it straight into his heart.

**Finnick**  
Black. My whole world was antagonizing black. I was functional enough that I realized what areas were in pain, which was basically anything my armor hadn't been covering, and I realized how bad my pain was.

Personally, I'd rather get stabbed repeatedly. I hadn't had on my helmet when the explosion hit, so I had bandages over my eyes, not that I could move them open anyway, it hurt too bad. Since one sense was impaired, the others kicked into high gear.

I could hear someone breathing in what I could only assume was the bed next to me. This person had a deep breathing, and light snores, which meant it wasn't Johanna—thank goodness. I had tried my hardest to protect her, and I could only hope I succeeded.

I didn't know what time it was, or where exactly I was. But since I was in soft bed and I could hear beeping, and since i could feel the bandages on my body, I assumed I was in a hospital. A few seconds later, someone's light and skipping tread entered the room. "Finnick Odair? Are you awake?"

I tried to speak, but no words came out. It was like my throat had been ripped apart. Whoever my nurse was giggled, and the noise sounded like a peal of bells. Where had I heard that before? I searched through my foggy brain, trying to counteract the morphling in my system.

"Here, Finnick, the doctor said you'd want some water." She guided the cup to my lips and helped me drink it, "I know you can't see me, but it's Prim, by the way."

_Prim._ I was so happy she was alive.

I tried to speak again, "Where am I?" I choked out.

She laughed again, "A hospital inside the Capitol. To answer your other questions, you've been asleep almost three days. While you were out, Katniss and Johanna stormed the mansion by themselves and ending the war. They killed Snow and rescued Miss Dawn Harpstring, who would like to see you when you can take visitors. They're rebuilding for another four days before they official appoint Coin as the head of the new Panem."

"No," I choked. Prim grabbed my less bandaged hand. "Gale?"

I could feel Prim's hand tighten, and I heard the sniffle of tears rolling down her face.


	35. Chapter 35

**Chapter 35**

**Katniss**

I just sat in the waiting room, pacing. I didn't realize a person could walk this many times across a floor without leaving some kind of tunnel or mark. I also didn't know how many more sympathetic looks I could take before I completely snapped and killed everyone.

Finnick was blinded. Because he hadn't had his helmet on, the flames had licked up his face, ultimately destroying his eyes. He'd been told, but he'd already figured it out from the bandages. He was upset, of course, but he knew the cause was bigger than his life and had understood.

But Gale...

No one was willing to tell me anything. All I knew was he was in surgery. I was his WIFE, and no one would tell me what they were operating on. No one would even tell me how bad of shape he was in.

So I was pacing.

It had been five days since the day I shot Snow, and I hadn't slept very much for any of it. My mother was working furiously and had only seen Gale on the first day when he was brought in. She had told me that all he would ask about was me, if I was okay. It made me feel guilty because I had gone to kill Snow rather than to the hospital, but Gale would've wanted me to kill the bastard, so I thought it'd be okay.

Hazelle, Rory, and Prim had arrived shortly after Johanna and I exited from the mansion. Posy, Vick, Peeta, and Madge had shown up the next day with Coin. Peeta was furious that no one told us they were sending the bomb, and was still trying to figure out what to do about it. I'd already made up my mind.

If Gale died, I'd kill her in cold blood. If he survived, she was still dying.

But it didn't matter, Gale was going to live. He had to. This was why I hated being dependent on someone, because they can always leave or be taken from you. I wasn't sure I could function without him. My life would be over, my best friend would be gone.

I paced faster, trying to will away the poisonous thoughts.

Nearing midnight on the fifth day, a door finally opened. A doctor in surgery clothes came into the waiting room with a somber look on his face. I could feel the blood drain from mine and I tried to keep calm. "Miss Everdeen?"

I walked to him, "yes?"

"I am Dr. Knicker. I have been operating on Gale Hawthone the last few hours and have been keeping a close eye on him." I nodded, wanting him to talk faster. "I have some good and bad news."

"The good news," he said, "is that Gale is alive. None of the machines are working for him to make him breathe or anything." I sighed in relief, so thankful he was alive that tears flowed.

The doctor's eyes broke contact with mine, "There is some bad news. The burns are so severe, we run a terrible risk with infection. We had put him in a coma before surgery, and we have no control over if or when he wakes up."

"What-–what does that mean?!" I ask.

"He could die in this coma if he gets infected. He could also never wake up. He just dreams now. He is allowed to have one visitor at a time."

"where?" my head snapped up. He told me which room and I sprinted in that direction, not stopping until I was at the window to his room.

Because he'd had his helmet on at the last, his face was untouched. But his neck and arms were a terrible shade of pink, red, and black. His face was contorted in a spasm of pain, and I wondered what he was dreaming.

The nurse motioned for me to come in and gave me a big smile. I took the doorknob and walked in, resting on the chair near his bed. His hands had been under me, so they weren't burned very bad, so I grabbed them, heeding the doctor's words about not touching anything burned.

The nurse smiled again, "He's been talking about you, in his sleep."

I raised an eyebrow at her, "I didn't know they could do that."

"Yes, and he's been doing it a lot," she replied. "He must really love you to sacrifice himself like that."

I smiled and kissed Gale's cheek, "Yes, he does."

I fell asleep in that chair, holding Gale's hand. Nearing 4 am, I was jolted awake. Rue had been calling my name in my dreams, but I wasn't screaming yet. I looked at Gale, his face contorted again. "Katniss!" he whispered

"I'm here, Gale. I'm right here," I squeezed his hand.

To my surprise, he squeezed back. His face relaxed, "I love you."

I reached up to kiss his lips, "I love you, too."

I sat back down and started to sing. The doctor had told me talking and singing to him might help him come back quicker.

_Are you, are you_

_coming to the tree?_

I finished two verses before looking at Gale again. To my surprise, his eyes fluttered and finally opened. He squeezed my hand, and then tried to sit up. When he realized he couldn't, he grunted in pain and lay back down.

He looked to me and smiled, "Hey, Catnip."

I hadn't noticed I was crying until he wiped a tear from my cheek. I laughed and leaned up to kiss him, thoroughly, deeply, showing him how much I missed him. He moaned into my mouth, his tongue started to search for mine, and his unburned hands started moving themselves up and down my hips.

I moved from his lips to his neck and heard him growl with pleasure. I didn't stop until I heard him grunt in pain. Then I blushed and sat back down.

"I missed you, Catnip."

I smiled, I had missed him. Not being able to see those light grey eyes underneath that dark hair, not being able to see his hands run through his hair, not being able to see those beautiful lips part for that amazing smile had really drained me for nearly six days. Not even that, but the constant worry of losing my love. I had been a wreck.

So it was with total confidence when I kissed him again and said, "I can promise, I missed you more."

**Peeta**.

I would love to know who the hell Coin thinks she is.

So far, only the people in the control room, Katniss, Gale, Johanna, and Finnick are the only people who know for sure that she sent the bomb. But since we've gotten to the Capitol, she's been acting like she's perfect. But I know she won't be president. She's worse than Snow!

But as the "coronation" day is today, I don't really know what the hell I'm going to do to stop it.

Katniss really hadn't left Gale's bedside since he woke up, but she hasn't left the hospital since the war ended. From what I heard, it was a pretty huge struggle to get her to leave so she could get ready.

Gale and Finnick aren't to be in attendance because of their injuries. Doctors say it'll be close to 6 months before they'll heal up properly. But the fighting is over, so it's okay. They have all the time they need.

As I sit in my room with Cinna, he informs me that Portia passed not too long ago. Rebels who didn't know she was on our side. Poor thing. He dresses me in a simple suit and heads off to find the girls.

I walk out to the stage at my directed time. Katniss is dressed in a beautiful red ball gown for the party later. Madge is wearing my favorite color, a sunset orange, and sporting the ring I gave her. Her dress billows out for her slightly protruding tummy, having passed 14 weeks today, and she's glowing.

I take her hand and kiss her, offering my other arm to Katniss as her escort. She smiles but declines, "I miss Gale too much," she admits with a blush.

The procession starts, Coin leading the way dressed in her military uniform. I squeeze Madge's hand out of anger and look to see that my glare is copied on Katniss's face. I can only imagine what Gale looks like at the hospital. Coin sits in the chair, and Plutarch makes a speech before mentioning for Katniss to come forward.

"Amelia Coin, there are some questions Panem has been waiting for you to answer." Katniss smiled at Plutarch before continuing. "Did you, or did you not order the strike of bombs on Snow's mansion one week ago today?"

Coin set her jaw, sensing a trap. "Yes, I did."

Katniss's glare intensified as she asked the most important question, "Why?"

"Because some sacrifices must be made for the greater good," Coin answered.

Katniss smiled, "Just what I was thinking." She grabbed her bow from under the podium and loaded it, "Your crimes are punishable by death. We had agreed as a district not to sacrifice or fire upon innocents. You did both. Now you must face the consequences of our new nation."

Before Coin could gasp, Katniss fired the arrow in her heart and turned to the audience. "Should we not be able to make our own decision? Should the power to choose not be in our hands? Don't we have the right to an election?"

The crowd roared with Katniss's words. "Too long we have been forced to like decisions made for us, too long has the power not been put in our hands. Too long have we not put the power with the people of this country!"

Haymitch strode to the stage, "An election then, sweetheart? Like the old days?" the crowd roared, "Then candidates will have the option to volunteer and be voted upon!"

Everyone completely forgot about Coin as her body was pulled away from the scene.


	36. Epilogue :

**Epilogue  
****_Six months later…_**

**Katniss  
**"Gale! Come on! We're going to miss it!" I yelled down the hallway. He insisted on getting ready completely by himself today and it had taken twice as long. But I was proud of him, this was a huge milestone for him, and he had come so far in six short months.

His burns have faded to scars, but he likes the scars, because he says they remind him of the dumber things he's done in his life, they make him proud to walk through town and have people stare. The scars also keep him humble, and show him that each day is precious, each day means something. It always bothers me that he has those scars because of me, because he was protecting me, but when I mention this, he shoves it away.

We live in the Capitol now, so Gale had access to all the doctors he needs. Normal couples would be thousands in debt right now, but every doctor that treats him refuses our money. Whenever he is fully healed, we plan on moving back to 12, and back to the forest where we belong.

He's been walking without the use of his cane for a while now, healing so much faster than expected. Hunting is still several months away, but he reminds himself that he can do it every day. Since he doesn't have a war to work for now, he uses his rehab as a challenge. If he can get better faster than expected, if he can do things faster than expected, if he can ultimately better himself, then he's won the war.

But it's the emotional war that really bothers us. Some days, I have flashbacks so bad that I bend over the couch, shaking with the fear of my memories. Gale has them too, and sneaking up on him sends him back into the arena, constantly trying to protect me. But our doctor encouraged us to start writing our flashbacks down, so that's what we do.

Most of my pages are filled with Rue, but sometimes I see faces of people I never could save, or Cato killing the ones I love. Gale's are filled with me dying, waking up in the arena without me, having to kill me himself. Some of them he talks about, but most of them he doesn't. And we don't read each other's journals, it's a place where we can let things off our chest. I hope one day I can let him read it, just so he can see how scared I am of losing him.

He slowly emerges from our bedroom, dressed in a button up shirt, with the sleeves pushed up to the elbows, and light washed blue jeans. He runs his hand through his hair, "Calm yourself, Catnip, I'm ready!" I can see he's just as happy as I am about the news.

Earlier this morning, in the small apartment the four of us shared, we helped a very pregnant Madge and a very nervous Peeta down to Gale's truck. Her water had broken and she wanted to get to the hospital very soon, and in a safer vehicle than what Peeta drove. Gale had laughed and asked Peeta if he needed to ride shotgun while one of us drove, but he didn't. He had driven and we promised to be up there in a few hours.

Peeta had married Madge shortly after Paylor's election as president. I was happy that the people of Panem had voted for someone who would actually _change_ the country, because we didn't need another whacko running it. Peeta and Madge had branched out into Capitol traditions for a wedding, with a toasting mixed in. Cinna had designed most of it, dressing me as the maid of honor in a sunrise orange short dress, with Johanna and Posy matching as the other bridesmaids.

Haymitch had given her away, in a tux with a matching orange vest and tie. Gale was striking in his best man's suit, with Rory looking eerily similar, and Finnick blew everyone away. It had been confusing as to why all those people were there, but it was beautiful nonetheless.

And today, their beautiful baby would grace the world. I was really scared, knowing I would have to go through this myself in about six months, but Gale squeezed my hand, excited for the same reason. He walks down the hall with a louder tread than he used to have, entering the waiting room. He slowly bends down to kiss my slightly protruding stomach before he kisses my lips. "I love you, Catnip. And Catnip junior or Gale junior," he winks.

"We are not naming our unborn child after you, your ego is large enough for the both of us," I laugh. "Now hurry up, or we're going to miss it and we'll never be forgiven!"

We hailed a cab and asked the man to step on it. The four of us were basically our own family, and we were so excited to have a little baby running around. With Madge and Peeta's parents gone, my mother and Gale's had accepted Madge and Peeta as family, and they were waiting anxiously for news like grandparents. They called every day and sometimes stopped by, just to see how Madge was. We joked that they loved Peeta and Madge more than Gale and I.

Even though the sex of the baby could be determined with Capitol technology, Peeta and Madge had decided they wanted this old fashioned and didn't want to know. Haymitch and Johanna had been betting furiously, judging on how high Madge was carrying, how emotional she was, and for how long she'd been pregnant. I'd been told they'd already started betting on me too.

When we arrived to the hospital, we rushed to the delivery waiting room where Haymitch and Hazelle were both pacing. Finnick was blindly tying knots (better than I could, and I'm not blind), and Annie was reading a book alongside Vick. Rory was holding Prim's hand and talking quietly, I wondered why she wasn't helping deliver with my mother. Gale mussed his brother's hair and kissed Posy on the forehead.

Many screams, curse words, and laps around the waiting room later, we heard the cries of a beautiful, healthy baby. Peeta opened the door and rushed out to us, "It's a girl! A girl! A beautiful blonde haired, blue eyed, baby girl!"

We all smiled and hugged him, exclaiming our congratulations. Johanna looked to Haymitch, "Pay up." He shrugged and handed over the money as she smiled.

"What's the name, Peeta?" Prim asked.

His smile stretched wider, "Nadia. Nadia Mellark. It means 'beginning.'"

And it was appropriate. As I smiled to Gale, who put a hand on my stomach, this was the beginning. The beginning of a life we had always dreamed of. A life where we didn't have to run off or live in the woods for a child of mine and Gale's to be safe.

He kissed my lips, "I love you," he whispered.

That night, we lay in bed, talking as we always do. We had added Nadia to the book we had kept about people in the war. Unlike the book about our flashbacks, this one was a happy one that celebrated the lives of the people we missed. Although Nadia had been born after the war was over, she still played a big part in swinging the people's allegiances and creating a diversion so her father could come home.

Not to mention she was a beautiful baby.

Gale rolled over to turn off the light and then held me close to him. "We never have to give this up, Catnip. We can love each other as much as we want; no one has to sacrifice anything for our happiness ever again."

And it's true.

…

Six months after Nadia is born, our beautiful baby boy graces the world. Right away, we notice he has dark hair and grey eyes like his parents. Gale swells with pride as people clap him excitedly on the back and he kisses the baby boy in my arms. We name him Colby, after Gale's father.

As he grows and Gale heals, we move back to district 12, rebuilding the house on the lake that we love so much. He loves the outdoors and Gale gave him a bow on his fifth birthday. We teach him to hunt, we teach him to love nature, we teach him everything we know. The girl followed him three years after, Caroline, my mother's middle name. She says it means 'free person,' and that is appropriate too.

They love to play with Peeta and Madge's three kids, but they love to explore the woods even more. While Colby has the seam look, Caroline is the spitting image of Prim, and just as happy as Prim always is.

The days pass easy and Peeta is eventually elected Mayor of the district. Our book of flashbacks gets written in less often, but the book of people that we remember grows. As each of our party gets married and have children, we add them so they can always be celebrated. We remind ourselves every day of the struggles we went through just to have the life we do now.

Some days, I wonder if Gale always envisioned this outcome, but deep down, I know he did. And he was right, no one has tried to take our happiness, no one has to survive to please a president. We are at peace, and we will stay that way. Our children will get the future we fought for. Every sacrifice was worth it, just to see my son and daughter wrestle in the living room with Gale.

But no one has to sacrifice any more.


End file.
